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BCKCCB  UB 


CALIFORNIA  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 


THE    NEUROTIC    CONSTITUTION 


THE  t  NEUROTIC 
CONSTITUTION  : 

Outlines  of  a  Comparative  Individualistic 
Psychology  and  Psychotherapy  ~1 


BY 

DR    ALFRED    ADLER 

(Vienna) 


AUTHORIZED    ENGLISH    TRANSLATION    BY 

BERNARD  GLUECK,  M.D. 

Director  of  the  Psychiatric  Clinic,  Sing   Sing  Prison 
AND 

JOHN    E.    LIND,    M.D. 

Senior  Assistant  Physician,  Saint  Elizabeth's  Hospital  ; 

Associate     Psychiatrist,    Washington     Asylum 

Hospital ;  and  Instructor  in  Psychiatry, 

Georgetown  Medical  College 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1921 


?0 


11 


Reprinted  (by  arrangement)  from 
the  American  Edition  of  1917 


PREFACE 

After  I  had  made  the  attempt  to  investigate  in  the  Studie 
uber  Minderwertigkeit  -von  Organen  the  structure  and  tectonic 
of  organs  in  association  with  their  genetic  basis,  their  functional 
capability  and  destiny,  I  proceeded,  supporting  myself  upon 
already  available  data  as  well  as  upon  my  own  experience,  to 
apply  the  same  method  in  the  study  of  psychopathology.  In 
the  book  before  us  are  embraced  the  most  important  results  of 
my  comparative,  individual-psychologic  studies  of  the  neuroses. 

As  was  the  case  in  the  theory  of  somatic  inferiority,  an 
empiric  basis  is  made  use  of  in  comparative  individual- 
psychology  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  fictive  standard  of 
normality  in  order  to  enable  one  to  measure  and  compare  with 
it  grades  of  deviation  from  it.  In  both  of  these  scientific 
endeavors,  the  comparative  method  of  study  reckons  with  the 
origin  of  phenomena,  dismisses  from  consideration  the  present 
and  seeks  to  outline  from  them  the  future.  This  method  of 
approach  leads  us  to  view  the  compulsion  of  evolution  and  the 
pathological  elaboration  as  the  result  of  a  conflict  which  breaks 
forth  in  the  organic  sphere  for  the  purpose  of  attaining  equi- 
poise, functional  capability  and  adaptation ;  the  same  struggle 
in  the  psychic  sphere  is  under  the  command  of  a  fictitious  idea 
of  personality  whose  influence  dominates  the  development  of  the 
neurotic  character  and  symptoms.  If  in  the  organic  sphere, 
"  the  individual  develops  into  a  unit  mass  in  which  all  of  the 
individual  parts  co-operate  toward  a  common  goal"  (Virchow), 
if  the  various  abilities  and  tendencies  of  the  individual  tend 
toward  a  purposefully  directed,  unit-personality,  then  we  may 
look  upon  every  single  manifestation  of  life  as  if  in  its  past, 
present  and  future  there  are  contained  traces  of  a  dominating, 
guiding  idea. 


vi  PREFACE 

In  this  way  it  has  appeared  to  the  author  of  this  book,  that 
the  most  minute  trait  of  psychic  life  is  permeated  by  a  purpose- 
force.,  Comparative,  individualistic  psychology  sees  in  every 
psychic  event  the  impress,  so  to  speak,  or  symbol  of  a  uniformly 
directed  plan  of  life  which  only  comes  more  clearly  to  light  in 
the  neuroses  and  psychoses. 

The  result  of  such  an  investigation  of  the  neurotic  character 
should  furnish  proof  of  the  value  and  utility  of  our  method  of 
comparative,  individualistic  psychology  in  the  problems  of 

mental  life. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

Vienna,  1912. 


INTRODUCTION 

"  Omnia  ex  opinione  suspensa  sunt  :  non  ambitio  tantum  ad 
illam  respicit  et  luxuria  et  avaricia.  Ad  opinionem  dolemus. 
Tam  miser  est  quisque  quam  credidit." 

SENECA,  Epist.,  78,  13. 

X 

The  study  of  the  neurotic  character  is  an  essential  part  of 
neuro-psychology.  Like  all  other  psychic  phenomena  it  can 
only  be  understood  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  entire 
psychic  life.  A  cursory  knowledge  of  the  neuroses  suffices  to 
enable  one  to  discover  that  which  is  peculiarly  characteristic  in 
them  and  all  writers  who  have  studied  the  problem  of  nervous- 
ness have  laid  particular  stress  upon  certain  peculiar  traits  of 
character.  The  opinion  was  a  general  one  that  the  neurotic 
shows  a  series  of  sharply  emphasized  traits  of  character  which 
exceed  the  normal  standard.  The  marked  sensitiveness,  the 
irritable  debility,  the  suggestibility,  the  egotism,  the  penchant 
for  the  fantastic,  the  estrangement  from  reality,  but  also  more 
special  traits  such  as  tyranny,  malevolence,  a  self-sacrificing 
virtue,  coquetry,  anxiety  and  absent-mindedness  are  met  with  in 
the  majority  of  case  histories  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  detail 
all  writers  who  have  thoroughly  studied  the  subject  in  order  to 
endorse  their  contributions.  Of  the  more  recent  ones,  Janet, 
who  has  carried  on  the  traditions  of  the  famous  French  school 
and  who  has  brought  to  light  some  very  important  and  ingenious 
analyses,  must  be  especially  mentioned.  His  emphasis  of  the 
neurotic's  "sentiment  d'incompletude "  particularly,  is  so 
wholly  in  harmony  with  the  results  offered  by  me  that  I  am 
justified  in  seeing  in  my  work  an  extension  of  this  most 
important  fundamental  fact  of  the  mental  life  of  the  neurotic. 

No  matter  where  one  begins  with  ihe  analysis  of  psychogenic 
disorders,   one  and  the    same   phenomenon  forces   itself   upon 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

one's  attention  after  the  briefest  observation,  namely,  that  the 
entire  picture  of  the  neurosis  as  well  as  all  its  symptoms  are 
influenced  by,  nay,  even  wholly  provoked  by  an  imaginary 
fictitious  goal.  This  final  purpose  has  a  creative,  directive 
and  adjustive  power.  The  potency  of  this  "goal  idea"  is 
revealed  to  us  by  the  trend  and  evaluation  of  the  pathological 
phenomena  and  should  one  attempt  to  dispense  with  this 
assumption  there  remains  nothing  but  a  confusing  mass  of 
impulses,  trends,  components,  debilities  and  anomalies  which 
has  made  the  obscurity  of  the  neurosis  impenetrable  to  some, 
while  others  have  undertaken  bold  exploratory  journeys  into 
this  field. 

Pierre  Janet  has  certainly  recognized  this  relationship  as  is 
shown  in  his  classical  descriptions  of  the  Hysterical  Psyche  ; 
1894  (transl.  by  Dr  Max  Kahane),  but  he  avoided  a  detailed 
description.  He  expressly  maintains,  "  I  have  until  now  only 
described  general  and  simple  traits  of  character  which  by  means 
of  their  association  and  under  the  influence  of  definite  extran- 
eous circumstances  may  produce  all  kinds  of  curious  behavior 
and  conduct."  It  is  entirely  out  of  place  here  to  enter  into  a 
detailed  discussion  of  Janet's  description  for  this  treatise  would 
then  resemble  more  a  moral  romance  than  a  clinical  study. 
Having  adhered  to  this  attitude  even  up  to  his  latest  contri- 
butions on  the  subject,  Janet,  notwithstanding  his  keen  insight 
into  the  relationship  between  the  psychology  of  the  neuroses 
and  moral  philosophy,  never  entered  the  road  to  synthesis. 

It  remained  for  Joseph  Breuer,  a  man  well  versed  in  current 
German  philosophy,  to  discover  the  gem  which  lay  in  his  path. 
He  directed  his  attention  to  the  meaning  of  the  symptoms  and 
undertook  to  ascertain  the  source  and  purpose  of  the  same  from 
the  only  one  who  could  give  them — from  the  patient.  In  so 
doing  the  author  founded  a  method  which  seeks  to  explain 
individual  psychological  phenomena  historically  and  genetically 
with  the  assistance  of  a  preliminary  hypothesis,  i.e.,  that  of  the 
determinism  of  psychic  phenomena.  The  manner  in  which  this 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

method  has  been  extended  and  improved  upon  by  Sigmund 
Freud  with  the  host  of  problems  and  attempted  solutions  there- 
with connected  belongs  to  contemporaneous  history  and  has 
met  with  both  recognition  and  contradiction.  Less  for  the 
purpose  of  following  a  critical  bent  than  for  the  purpose  of 
making  clear  my  own  position  I  beg  leave  to  separate  from  the 
fruitful  and  valuable  contributions  of  Freud  three  of  his  funda- 
mental views  as  erroneous  inasmuch  as  they  threaten  to  impede 
progress  in  the  understanding  of  the  neuroses.  The  first 
objection  is  directed  against  the  view  that  the  libido  is  the 
motive  force  behind  the  phenomena  of  the  neurosis.  On  the 
contrary  it  is  the  neurosis  which  shows  more  clearly  than  does 
normal  psychic  conduct  how  by  means  of  this  neurotic  positing 
of  a  "  final  purpose,"  the  apperception  of  pleasure,  its  selection 
and  power  are  all  driven  in  the  direction  of  this  final  purpose 
so  that  the  neurotic  can  really  only  follow  the  allurement  of 
the  acquisition  of  pleasure  with  his  healthy  psychic  force,  so  to 
speak,  while  for  the  neurotic  portion  only  "higher"  goals  are 
of  value. 

The  neurotic  goal  (Zwecksetzung)  has  revealed  itself  to  us  in 
the  heightened  ego-consciousness  (Personlichkeitsgefuhl)  whose 
simplest  formula  is  to  be  recognized  in  an  exaggerated  "  mas- 
culine protest"  (Mannlicher  Protest).  This  formula:  "I  wish 
to  be  a  complete  man"  is  the  guiding  fiction  in  every  neurosis, 
claiming  higher  reality  values  than  even  the  normal  psyche. 
The  libido,  the  sex-impulses  and  the  tendencies  to  sexual  per- 
versions arrange  themselves  in  accordance  with  this  guiding 
principle,  no  matter  whence  they  originate.  Nietzsche's  "Will 
to  power  "  and  "  Will  to  seem  "  embrace  many  of  our  views, 
which  again  resemble  in  some  respects  the  views  of  Fere  and 
the  older  writers,  according  to  whom  the  sensation  of  pleasure 
originates  in  a  feeling  of  power,  that  of  pain  in  a  feeling  of 
feebleness  (Ohnmacht). 

A  second  objection  is  directed  agSinst  Freud's  fundamental 
view  of  the  sexual  etiology  of  the  neuroses,  a  view  which  Pierre 


x  INTRODUCTION 

Janet  approached  very  closely  when  he  asked,  "Is  sexual  feel- 
ing then  the  center  around  which  all  other  psychological 
syntheses  are  built  up?"  The  applicability  of  the  sexual 
picture  deceives  the  normal  person  and  especially  the  neurotic. 
But  it  must  not  deceive  the  psychologist.  The  sexual  content 
in  the  neurotic  phenomenon  originates  primarily  in  the 
imaginary  antithesis  :  "  Masculine-feminine"  and  is  evolved 
through  a  change  of  form  of  the  "masculine  protest."  The 
sexual  trend  in  the  fantasy  and  life  of  the  neurotic  follows  the 
direction  of  the  "  masculine  goal,"  and  is  really  not  a  trend, 
but  a  compulsion.  The  whole  picture  of  the  sexual  neurosis  is 
nothing  more  than  a  portrait  depicting  the  distance  which  the 
patient  is  removed  from  the  imaginary  masculine  goal  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  seeks  to  bridge  it.  It  is  strange  that 
Freud,  a  skillful  connoisseur  of  the  symbolic  in  life,  was  not  able 
to  discover  the  symbolic  in  "  sexual  apperception,"  to  recognize 
the  sexual  as  a  jargon,  a  modus  dicendi.  But  we  can  under- 
stand this  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  more  extensive 
basic  error,  i.e.,  the  assumption  that  the  neurotic  is  under  the 
influence  of  infantile  wishes,  which  come  to  life  nightly  (Dream 
theory)  as  well  as  in  connection  with  certain  occasions  in  life. 
In  reality  these  infantile  wishes  already  stand  under  the  com- 
pulsion of  the  imaginary  goal  and  themselves  usually  bear  the 
character  of  a  guiding  thought  suitably  arrayed,  and  adapt 
themselves  to  symbolic  expression  purely  for  reasons  of  thought 
economy.  A  sickly  girl  who  during  her  entire  childhood  in  her 
consciousness  of  an  unusual  insecurity  leans  upon  her  father  and 
in  so  doing  strives  to  become  superior  to  her  mother,  may 
comprehend  this  psychic  constellation  in  the  form  of  an  incest, 
as  if  she  wished  to  be  the  wife  of  her  father.  Thereby  the  goal 
is  both  attained  and  effective  ;  her  insecurity  is  only  abolished 
when  she  is  with  her  father.  Her  developed  psycho-motor 
intelligence,  her  unconsciously  active  memory  combats  all  feel- 
ings of  uncertainty  with  the  same  aggression,  with  the  adequate 
expedient,  to  take  refuge  in  the  father  as  if  she  were  his  wife. 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

There  she  finds  that  heightened  ego-consciousness  which  she 
has  set  for  her  goal,  which  she  has  borrowed  from  the  masculine 
ideal  of  childhood,  from  the  over-compensation  of  her  feeling 
of  inferiority.  If  she  recoils  from  a  proffer  of  love  or  marriage, 
threatening  her  as  they  do  with  a  fresh  lowering  of  her  ego- 
consciousness,  she  acts  symbolically,  ancl  all  her  defensive 
resources  and  her  predispositions  become  arrayed  against  a 
female  destiny  and  make  her  seek  security  where  she  has  always 
found  it,  with  her  father.  She  utilizes  an  expedient,  behaves 
in  accordance  with  a  senseless  fiction,  but  is  nevertheless  certain 
of  attaining  her  goal.  The  greater  her  feeling  of  uncertainty, 
the  more  firmly  this  girl  clings  to  her  fiction,  endeavors  to  take 
it  quite  literally  and  since  human  thinking  favors  symbolic 
abstraction  the  patient  with  a  little  effort  (and  also  the  analyst) 
is  successful  in  the  longing  of  neurotics,  namely,  to  find 
security,  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  symbolic  picture  of  incestuous 
emotion. 

Freud  was  obliged  to  see  in  this  purposeful  manifestation  a 
reanimation  of  infantile  wishes  because  according  to  him  the 
latter  are  to  be  looked  upon  as  motive  forces.  We  recognize 
in  this  infantile  mode  of  procedure,  in  the  extensive  use  of 
safety-devices  (Hilfsconstructionen),  in  which  light  the  neurotic 
fiction  is  to  be  regarded,  in  the  many-sided  motor  preparedness 
which  reaches  into  the  remote  past,  in  the  strong  tendency  to 
abstraction  and  symbolization,  the  most  useful  expedient  of  the 
neurotic,  who  strives  toward  security,  toward  a  maximation  of 
his  ego,  toward  the  masculine  protest. 

If  we  attach  to  these  critical  remarks  the  question  of  how  the 
neurotic  phenomena  come  into  being,  why  the  patient  wills  to 
be  a  man  and  constantly  seeks  to  adduce  proof  thereof,  whence 
he  has  the  stronger  necessity  for  ego-consciousness,  why  he 
makes  such  strong  endeavors  to  gain  security,  in  short,  if  we 
inquire  into  the  final  reasons  for  these  devices  of  the  neurotic 
psyche,  we  may  conjecture  that  which  is  revealed  by  every 
analysis,  namely,  that  at  the  onset  of  the  development  of  a 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

neurosis  there  stands  threateningly  the  feeling  of  uncertainty 
and  inferiority  and  demands  insistently  a  guiding,  assuring  and 
tranquilizing  positing  of  a  goal  in  order  to  render  life  bearable. 
Among  these  are  especially  prominent  safety  devices  and 
fictions  in  thought,  action  and  volition. 

It  is  clear  that  this  sort  of  psyche,  directed  as  it  is  with 
especial  force  toward  a  heightening  of  the  ego,  will,  aside  from 
specific  neurotic  symptoms,  make  itself  conspicuous  in  society 
because  of  its  evident  inability  to  adapt  itself.  The  conscious- 
ness of  the  weak  point  dominates  the  neurotic  to  such  a  degree 
that  often  without  knowing  it  he  begins  to  construct  with  all 
his  might  the  protecting  superstructure.  Along  with  this  his 
sensitiveness  becomes  more  acute,  he  learns  to  pay  attention  to 
relationships  which  still  escape  others,  he  exaggerates  his 
cautiousness,  begins  to  anticipate  all  sorts  of  disagreeable  con- 
sequences in  starting  out  to  do  something  or  in  experiencing 
an  injury,  he  endeavors  to  hear  further  and  to  see  further, 
belittles  himself,  becomes  insatiable,  economical,  constantly 
strives  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  his  influence  and  power  over 
space  and  time  and  at  the  same  time  loses  that  peace  of  mind 
and  freedom  from  prejudice  which  above  all  guarantee  mental 
health.  His  mistrust  of  himself  and  others,  his  envy  and 
maliciousness,  become  gradually  more  pronounced,  aggressive 
and  cruel  tendencies  which  are  to  secure  for  him  supremacy 
over  his  environment,  gain  the  upper  hand,  or  he  endeavors  to 
captivate  and  conquer  others  by  means  of  greater  obedience, 
submission  and  humility  which  not  infrequently  degenerate  into 
masochistic  traits ;  thus  both  heightened  activity  as  well  as 
increased  passivity  are  expedients  ushered  in  by  the  fictitious 
goal  of  an  increased  power,  of  a  desire  to  be  above,  of  the 
masculine  protest. 

Thus  we  have  arrived  at  those  psychic  phenomena,  at  the 
neurotic  character,  the  discussion  of  which  forms  the  content 
of  this  book.  None  of  the  neurotic's  traits  of  character  are 
essentially  new.  He  shows  no  single  trait  which  cannot  like- 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

wise  be  demonstrated  in  the  healthy  individual,  although  at 
times  it  becomes  understandable  for  the  physician  as  well  as 
the  patient  only  through  analysis.  It  is  uninterruptedly 
"sensitized,"  thrust  forward  like  an  outpost,  and  represents 
the  sounding  of  the  environment  and  the  future.  The  know- 
ledge of  these  psychic  dexterities,  which  protrude  far  and  wide, 
like  sensitive  antennae,  first  makes  possible  the  understanding 
of  the  neurotic's  struggle  with  his  fate,  of  his  stimulated 
aggressive  tendency,  his  unrest  and  impatience.  For  these 
antennae  test  all  the  phenomena  of  the  environment  and  examine 
them  constantly  for  their  advantages  and  disadvantages  with 
regard  to  the  assumed  goal.  They  create  the  keen  sense  for 
estimate  and  comparison,  awaken,  by  means  of  the  attention 
active  in  them,  fear,  hope,  doubt,  expectations  of  all  sorts  and 
seek  to  ensure  the  psyche  against  surprise  and  against  a  lower- 
ing of  the  ego-consciousness.  They  put  forth  the  most  acces- 
sible motor  dexterities,  ever  mobile,  ever  ready  to  prevent  a 
degradation  of  the  person.  The  forces  of  internal  and  external 
experience  are  active  in  them,  they  are  filled  with  memory-rests 
of  fear — inspiring  as  well  as  consoling  experiences,  the  reminis- 
cences of  which  they  have  changed  into  dexterities.  Cate- 
gorical imperatives  of  the  second  rank,  they  do  not  serve  to 
bring  about  their  own  existence,  but  in  the  last  analysis  cause 
an  elevation  of  the  ego-consciousness  and  they  attempt  this  by 
making  possible  the  discovery  in  the  unrest  and  uncertainty  of 
life,  of  guiding  principles,  by  facilitating  the  differentiation 
between  right  and  wrong,  up  and  down,  right  and  left.  The 
accentuated  traits  of  character  are  to  be  found  already  in  the 
neurotic  disposition  where  they  give  rise  to  peculiarities  and 
perversions  of  conduct.  These  become  still  more  pronounced 
when  after  a  more  severe  attack  or  after  the  emergence  of  a 
contradiction  in  the  masculine  protest,  the  craving  for  security 
(Sicherungstendenz)  asserts  itself  and  simultaneously  calls  forth 
symptoms  as  new,  effective  expedients.*  They  are  largely  con- 
structed after  models  and  patterns  and  have  for  their  object 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

the  initiation  in  every  new  situation  of  the  struggle  for  the 
preservation  of  the  ego  and  victory  for  it.  In  their  influence 
lies  the  reason  for  the  exaggerated  affectivity  and  lowered 
threshold  of  stimulation  in  contrast  with  normal  individuals. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  neurotic  character,  too,  develops 
out  of  material  already  at  hand,  out  of  psychic  impulses  and 
metamorphosing  experiences  of  the  somatic  functions. 

All  these  psychic  dexterities,  standing  as  they  do  in  close 
contact  with  the  outside  world,  become  neurotic  only  when  an 
inner  want  accentuates  the  craving  for  security  which  in  turn 
more  effectively  constructs  and  mobilizes  the  traits  of  character 
only  when  the  fictitious  object  of  life  operates  more  dogmatically 
and  strengthens  those  secondary  guiding  principles  which  are 
in  accord  with  the  traits  of  character.  It  is  then  that  the 
hypostatization  of  the  character  sets  in,  its  transformation  from 
a  means  to  a  goal  leads  to  an  independence  of  existence  and  a 
sort  of  deification  lends  to  it  unchangeability  and  eternal  worth. 
The  neurotic  character  is  thus  incapable  of  adjusting  itself  to 
reality  because  it  is  always  striving  toward  an  impossible  ideal. 
It  is  a  product  and  instrument  of  a  cautious  psyche  which 
strengthens  its  guiding  principle  for  the  purpose  of  ridding 
itself  of  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  an  attempt  which  is  destined 
to  be  wrecked  as  a  consequence  of  inner  contradiction,  on  the 
barriers  of  civilization  or  on  the  rights  of  others.  Analogous 
to  the  groping  gestures,  pose  in  facing  the  rear,  to  the  bodily 
attitude  in  the  act  of  aggression,  like  mimicry  as  a  form  of 
expression  and  instrument  of  motility,  so  the  traits  of  character, 
especially  the  neurotic  ones,  serve  as  a  psychic  means  and  form 
of  expression  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  an  account  with 
life,  for  the  purpose  of  assuming  an  attitude,  of  gaining  a.  fixed 
point  in  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  that 
security-giving  goal,  the  feeling  of  superiority. 

Thus  we  have  unmasked  the  neurotic  character  as  the  servant 
of  an  imaginary  goal  and  have  established  its  dependence  upon 
a  final  purpose.  It  has  not  sprung  up  independently  out  of  any 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

sort  of  biological  or  constitutional  primitive  force,  but  has 
received  direction  and  motivation  from  the  compensatory  super- 
structure and  the  schematic  guiding  principle.  Its  emergence 
took  place  under  the  pressure  of  uncertainty,  its  tendency  to 
personify  itself  is  the  doubtful  success  of  the  craving  for 
security.  This  course  of  the  neurotic  character  has  received 
through  the  positing  of  a  final  purpose  its  destination  which  is 
the  masculine  main  principle  and  thus  every  neurotic  tendency 
betrays  to  us  by  its  direction  that  it  is  impregnated  with  the 
masculine  protest  which  seeks  to  make  of  it  an  unfailing 
instrument  for  the  purpose  of  excluding  from  experience  every 
permanent  degradation. 

In  the  practical  part  of  this  book  will  be  shown  by  means 
of  a  series  of  cases  how  the  ' '  neurotic  scheme ' '  calls  forth 
special  psycho-pathological  constellations,  namely,  through  the 
apperception  of  experiences  by  means  of  the  neurotic  character. 


Since  the  inception  of  the  psychoanalytic  movement  its 
students  have  shown  a  remarkable  activity  in  applying  the 
principles  of  interpretation  originally  enunciated  by  Freud  over 
a  wide  field  of  human  endeavor,  and  thus  not  only  have  the 
neurotic  and  the  psychotic  come  under  the  critical  survey  of 
the  analyst,  but  the  whole  course  of  cultural  development  has 
been  subjected  to  inquiry  along  these  lines.  In  addition  to 
this  growth  in  the  extent  of  the  movement  it  has  manifested 
what  seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  healthy  tendency,  namely,  it 
has  shown  an  inclination  to  put  forth  suggestions  as  to  new 
methods  of  approach  to  the  problems,  represented  here  and 
there  by  groups  of  workers  who  have  tended  to  depart  more  or 
less  from  the  original  formulations  as  laid  down  by  Freud.  One 
of  the  most  stimulating  and  valuable  points  of  view  which  have 
been  developed  in  this  way  is  t^at  of  Alfred  Adler,  of  Vienna, 
a  translation  of  whose  work  on  the  characteristics  of  the  neurotic 
character  is  offered  in  the  following  pages. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Adler's  approach  to  the  problem 
of  the  neurotic  character  traits  is  that  it  approaches  from  the 
organic  rather  than  from  the  functional  side  and  in  this  way,  I 
think,  affords  a  very  valuable  viewpoint  because  it  tends  to 
bring  together  the  organicist  and  the  functionalist,  who  have 
been  too  long  separated  by  the  misconception  of  irreconcilable 
differences  between  mind  and  body.  No  small  part  of  the 
opposition  to  the  whole  psychological  movement,  as  repre- 
sented in  psychoanalysis,  has  come  frotn  the"  inability  of  the 
man  who  has  been  brought  up  to  look  at  things  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  internist  to  be  able  to  accept  many  of  the  clinical 
observations  which  were  offered  and  which  tended  to  show  the 

zvii 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

development  of  clearly  organic  disorders  as  a  result  of  a  dis- 
turbance in  the  psyche.  Adler's  approach  to  the  psychoanalytic 
problems  is  admirably  calculated  to  break  down  such  prejudices. 

In  this  book,  however,  the  working  out  of  the  significance 
of  the  various  neurotic  character  traits  has  been  by  ringing  the 
changes  on  the  basic  formulation  of  what  Adler  calls  the 
masculine  protest.  It  is  as  if  the  neurotic  said  to  himself,  "I 
wish  to  be  a  complete  man."  This  protest  arises  on  the  basis 
of  a  feeling  of  inferiority  and  an  effort  upon  the  part  of  the 
neurotic  to  correct  this  feeling,  which  he  does  by  so  ordering 
his  life,  so  regulating  his  every  act  that  he  may  find  that  security 
of  which  the  feeling  of  inferiority  has  robbed  him.  This  is  the 
fictitious  goal  of  the  neurotic  and  the  fundamental  and  ultimate 
cause  of  his  symptoms  when  he  is  no  longer  able  to  succeed, 
when  failure  threatens  in  his  efforts  to  deal  with  reality. 

For  Adler  the  neurosis  or  the  psychosis  is  comparable  to  the 
work  of  art,  but  has  been  built  up  in  response  to  a  fictitious 
goal  which  collects  and  unites  into  a  group  those  psychic 
elements  of  which  it  can  make  use,  collecting  only  those  which 
promise  results  in  the  effort  at  the  attainment  of  security.  The 
attempt  to  attain  to  the  maximation  of  his  ego  fails  because 
directed  along  a  false  path.  The  neurosis  or  psychosis  is  there- 
fore a  constructive  creation,  a  compensation  product,  which, 
however,  fails  because  of  its  false  direction. 

All  this  is  very  psychological  and  does  not  bear  out  what  I 
have  said  about  it  to  the  effect  that  Adler's  approach  is  from 
the  organic  side.  This  particular  book,  however,  stresses  the 
psychological  formula.  In  his  earlier  work  on  organ  inferiority 
the  organic  basis  of  this  psychological  formulation  is  founded. 
The  feeling  of  inferiority,  which  underlies  the  masculine  pro- 
test, has  its  raison  d'etre  in  an  inferior  organ. 

In  this  work  he  has  gone  to  considerable  extent  in  working 
over  the  psychological  characteristics  of  persons  who  have  had 
demonstrably  inferior  organs,  either  clinically  evident  or 
showing  up  at  autopsy.  From  this  work  he  believes  he  has 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

been  able  to  show  that  the  predominant  traits  of  character  are 
the  result  of  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  individual  to  overcome 
a  feeling  of  inferiority  resulting  from  an  inferior  organ.  Many 
examples  might  be  given,  and  in  fact  they  come  within  the  ken 
of  every  one,  which  demonstrate  the  validity  of  this  point  of 
view.  A  classical  example  is  that  of  Demosthenes,  a  stam- 
merer, who  became  the  greatest  orator  of  Greece.  Adler 
believes  that  defects  of  this  sort  nucleate,  so  to  say,  the  feeling 
of  inferiority  and  force  the  individual  to  make  supreme  efforts 
to  overcome  his  particular  defect  and  in  this  way,  as  a  result 
of  these  efforts,  the  inferior  organ,  by  the  development  of  a 
highly  differentiated  nervous  superstructure,  may  actually 
become  super-normal,  a  result  which  we  are  familiar  with,  for 
example,  in  the  remarkable  facility  with  which  blind  people 
gain  information  through  their  supersensitized  touch  organs. 
In  other  words,  to  use  the  language  of  current  psychoanalysis, 
the  organ  inferiority  is  the  basic  factor  of  what  the  Freudians 
refer  to  as  the  conflict. 

These  two  works  of  Adler' s,  therefore,  give  che  organic  basis 
and  the  psychological  elaboration  of  his  opinions.  The  neurotic 
constitution  founds  in  an  inferior  organ,  the  inferior  organ  pro- 
duces a  feeling  of  inferiority,  the  feeling  of  inferiority — the 
masculine  protest — becomes  the  fictitious  goal  of  the  neurotic, 
whose  symptoms  result  from  an  effort  to  mould  reality  along 
this  fal^e  pathway. 

To  those  who  follow  Adler  through  the  various  ramifications 
of  his  hypothesis,  who  read  sympathetically  his  numerous  case 
reports  which  he  offers  to  substantiate  his  views,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  but  that  the  angle  from  which  he  looks  at  the  problem 
of  the  neuroses  and  the  psychoses  lets  us  see  new  aspects  of 
these  phenomena  which  are  exceedingly  helpful  to  us  in  our 
effort  to  grasp  their  meanings.  It  will  also  be  perfectly  evident 
that  the  helpfulness  of  the  Adler  theories  is  in  the  orientation 
which  the  physician  gets  towards  the  problem  presented  by  the 
patient,  whether  he  approach  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

internist  or  of  the  psychologist.  Adler's  theories  are  admirably 
calculated  to  help  the  internist  to  grasp  the  possibilities  of 
organ  inferiority  as  they  may  affect  the  psyche  and  to  help  the 
psychoanalyst  to  grasp  the  origin  and  meanings  of  the  neurosis 
as  he  sees  it  at  the  psychological  level  and  perhaps  to  see  more 
clearly  upon  what  his  limitations  are  based.  In  any  event  the 
two  groups  of  physicians,  heretofore  separated  all  too  far,  both 
in  theory  and  practice,  may  find  in  Adler's  views  a  common 
ground  upon  which  to  meet. 

WILLIAM  A.  WHITE. 

SAINT  ELIZABETH'S  HOSPITAL, 
WASHINGTON,  D.C. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTKR  PiCH 

PREFACE      T 

THEORETICAL  PART 
INTRODUCTION .       .      vii 

I     The  Origin  and  Development    of    the    Feeling    of 

Inferiority  and   the  Consequences  Thereof          .         i 

II     Psychic  Compensation  and  its  Synthesis     .       .       .       18 

III     The  Accentuated  Fiction  as  the  Guiding  Idea  in  the 

Neurosis        ...  26 

PRACTICAL  PART 

I  Avarice,  Suspiciousness,  Envy,  Cruelty,  The  dero- 
gatory critique  of  the  neurotic,  neurotic  apper- 
ception, senile  neuroses,  changes  in  the  form  and 
intensity  of  the  fiction.  Somatic  jargon  (organ- 
jargon)  61 

II  The  neurotic  extension  of  limits  through  asceticism, 
love,  desire  to  travel,  crime.  Simulation  and 
neurosis.  Feeling  of  inferiority  of  the  female 
sex.  Purpose  of  an  ideal.  Doubt  as  an 
expression  of  psychic  hermaphroditism.  Mas- 
turbation and  neurosis.  The  incest-complex  as 
a  symbol  of  craving  for  domi nancy.  The  nature 
of  the  delirium.  (Delirium  use^d  in  the  sense  of 
the  French  une  delire).  100 

HI  Neurotic  principles  :  sympathy,  coquetry,  narcis- 
cism,  Psychic  hermaphroditism,  Hallucinatory 
security,  Virtue,  conscience,  pedantry,  fanatic 

attachment  to  truth  118 

xxi 


xxii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTBR  PAGI 

IV  The  derogatory  tendency  to  disparage  others ; 
Obstinacy  and  wildness  ;  The  sexual  relations  of 
neurotics  as  a  means  of  comparison  ;  Symbolic 
emasculation ;  Feeling  of  being  belittled ; 
Equality  to  man  as  a  life-plan  ;  Simulation  and 
neurosis  ;  Substitute  for  masculinity ;  Impatience  ; 
Discontent ;  Inaccessibility 134 

V     Cruelty.       Conscience.       Perversion    and  neurosis     155 

VI  The  antithesis  above-beneath,  Choice  of  a  pro- 
fession, Somnambulism,  Antithesis  in  thought, 
Elevation  of  the  personality  through  the  dis- 
paragement of  others,  Jealousy,  Neurotic  auxili- 
aries, Authoritativeness,  Thinking  in  antithesis 
and  the  masculine  protest,  Dilatory  attitude  and 
marriage,  The  tendency  upward  as  a  symbol  of 
life,  Compulsion  to  masturbation,  The  neurotic 
striving  for  knowledge  160 

VII  Punctuality,  The  will  to  be  first,  Homosexuality 
and  perversion  as  a  symbol,  Modesty  and 
exhibitionism,  Constancy  t  and  inconstancy, 
Jealousy  173 

VIII  Fear  of  the  partner ;  The  ideal  in  the  neurosis  ; 
Insomnia  and  compulsion  to  sleep ;  Neurotic 
comparison  of  man  and  woman  ;  Forms  of  the 
fear  of  the  wife  184 

IX  Self-reproaches,  self-torture,  Contrition  and 
asceticism,  Flagellation,  Neuroses  in  children ; 
Suicide  and  suicidal  ideas 198 

X  The  neurotic's  esprit  de  famille,  Refractoriness 
and  obedience,  Silence  and  loquaciousness,  The 
tendency  to  contrariness  210 

Conclusion  .       . 214 

Author's    Contributions   referred    to   in    this    book     216 


THE 
NEUROTIC   CONSTITUTION 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY 
AND  THE   CONSEQUENCES  THEREOF 

THE  facts  established  through  my  study  of  somatic  inferiority 
(vide  Studie,  I.e.)  concerned  themselves  with  the  causes,  the 
behaviour,  the  manifestations  and  altered  mode  of  activity  of 
inferiorily  developed  organs  and  has  led  me  to  assume  the  idea 
of  "  compensation  through  the  central  nervous  system  "  with 
which  were  linked  certain  discussions  of  the  subject  of 
psychogenesis. 

There  came  to  light  a  remarkable  relationship  between  somatic 
inferiority  and  psychic  overcompensation,  so  that  I  gained  a 
fundamental  viewpoint,  namely,  that  the  realization  of  somatic 
inferiority  by  the  individual  becomes  for  him  a  permanent 
impelling  force  for  the  development  of  his  psyche. 

Physiologically  there  results  from  this  a  reenforcement  of  the 
nerve  tracts,  both  quantitatively  and  qualitatively,  whereby  a 
concomitant  original  inferiority  of  these  tracts  is  enabled  to  reveal 
in  a  composite  picture  its  tectonic  and  functional  peculiarities. 

'the  psychic  phase  of  this  compensation  and  overcompensation 
can  only  be  disclosed  by  means  of  psychologic  investigation  and 
analysis. 

As  I  have  given  a  detailed  description  of  organ-inferiority  as 
the  etiology  of  the  neuroses  in  my  former  contributions, 
especially  in  the  "  Studie,"  in  the  "  Aggressionstrieb,"  in 
'  Psychischen  Hermaphroditismus,"  in  the  "'  Neurotischen 
Disposition  "  and  in  the  '  Psychischen  Behandlung  der 
Trigeminusneuralgie,"  I  may  in  the  present  description  confine 
myself  to  those  points  which  promise  a  further  elucidation  of  the 
relationship  between  somatic-inferiSrity  and  psychic 
compensation  and  which  are  of  importance  in  the  study  of  the 
neurotic  character. 

Summarizing,  I  lay  stress  on  the  fact  that  organ-inferiority,  as 
described  by  me,  includes  the  incompleteness  in  such  organs,  the 
frequently  demonstrable  arrests  of  development  or  functional 
maturity,  the  functional  failure  in  the  postfetal  period  and  the 


2  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

fetal  character  of  organs  and  systems  of  organs  ;  on  the  other 
hand  the  accentuation  of  their  developmental  tendency  in  the 
presence  of  compensatory  and  coordinating  forces  and  the 
frequent  bringing  about  of  increased  functional  activity.  One 
may  easily  detect  in  every  instance  from  observation  of  the  child 
and  from  the  anamneses  of  the  adult  that  the  possession  of 
definitely  inferior  organs  is  reflected  upon  the  psyche — and  in 
such  a  way  as  to  lower  the  self-esteem,  to  raise  the  child's  psycho- 
logical uncertainty ;  but  it  is  just  out  of  this  lowered  self-esteem 
that  there  arises  the  struggle  for  self-assertion  which  assumes 
forms  much  more  intense  than  one  would  expect.  As  the 
compensated  inferior  organ  gains  in  the  scope  of  activity  both 
qualitatively  and  quantitatively  and  acquires  protective  means 
from  itself  as  well  as  from  the  entire  organism,  the  predispo'sed 
child  in  his  sense  of  inferiority  selects  out  of  his  psychic  resources 
expedients  for  the  raising  of  his  own  value  whch  are  frequently 
striking  in  nature  and  among  which  may  be  noted  as  occupying 
the  most  prominent  places  those  of  a  neurotic  and  psychotic 
character. 

Ideas  concerning  innate  inferiority,  predisposition,  and 
constitutional  weakness  may  be  found  even  in  the  very  beginnings 
of  scientific  medicine.  In  leaving  out  of  discussion  here  many 
noteworthy  contributions,  although  they  frequently  contained 
fundamental  viewpoints,  we  do  so  solely  because  the  relationship 
between  organic  and  psychic  disease  states,  albeit  dwelt  upon, 
was  never  explained.  In  this  class  belong  all  viewpoints  of 
pathology  which  are  founded  upon  a  general  assumption  of 
degeneracy.  Stiller's  theory  of  the  asthenic  habitus  goes 
considerably  further  and  almost  attempts  to  establish  etiological 
relationships.  Anton's  compensation  theory  confines  itself  all 
too  closely  to  correlation  systems  within  tne  eternal  nervous 
system  ;  nevertheless,  he,  as  well  as  his  talented  pupil,  Otto 
Gross,  have  made  noteworthy  attempts  to  bring  about  on  this 
basis  a  clearer  understanding  of  certain  psychotic  states. 
Bouchard's  bradytrophy,  the  exudative  diathesis  described  by 
Ponflick,  Escherich,  Czerny,  Moro  and  Striimpel,  and  interpreted 
by  them  as  a  disease-producing  diathesis,  Comby's  infantile 
arthritism.  Kreibich's  angio-neurotic  diathesis,  Heubner's 
lymphatism,  Poltauf's  status  thymico-lymphaticus,  Escherich's 
spasmophilia  and  Hess-Eppinger's  vagotonia  are  successful 
attempts  of  recent  decades  to  describe  disease  states  associated 
with  congenital  inferiority. 

All  of  them  refer  to  heredity  and  infantile  characteristics.  But, 
although  the  vague  and  inconstant  limits  of  the  predispositions 
in  question  are  emphasized  by  the  authors  themselves,  the 
impression  is  not  to  be  ignored  that  certain  conspicuous  types 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  3 

have  been  isolated  which  in  the  course  of  time  will  be  brought 
within  one  large  group,  namely,  that  of  the  minus-variants.  Of 
extreme  importance  for  the  understanding  of  congenital  inferiority 
and  predisposition  to  disease  are  the  researches  into  the  glands 
of  internal  secretion  in  which  morphologic  as  well  as  functional 
deviations  have  been  discovered,  e.g.,  the  thyroids,  the  para- 
thyroids, the  sex  glands,  the  chromaffin  system  and  the 
hypophysis.  Considered  from  the  standpoint  of  their  organ- 
inferiorities  the  orientation  of  the  composite  picture  becomes 
easier  and  the  relationship  to  compensation  and  correlation  in 
the  economy  of  the  entire  body  becomes  clearer.  Among  the 
remaining  investigators  who  took  as  the  basis  for  their  views 
not  a  primum-movens,but  a  combined  influence  of  various  organ- 
inferiorities  and  mutual  interaction  of  the  same,  Martius,  above 
all,  must  be  mentioned.  In  my  contribution  on  "  The  Inferiority 
of  Organs  "  (1907),  the  idea  of  the  coordination  of  the  coexisting 
inferiorities  likewise  appears  prominently.  The  fact  is  not  to 
be  lightly  evaluated  that  the  simultaneously  existing  organ-in- 
feriorities stand  in  relation  to  one  another  as  if  united  by  a  secret 
bond. 

Bartel  likewise  has  extended  his  theories  concerning  the 
status  thymico-lymphaticus,  which  represents  a  considerable 
advance  in  science,  to  such  limits  as  to  invade  the  boundaries  of 
the  systems  of  other  authors.  Kyrle,  too,  supporting  himself  by 
the  newly  discovered  pathological  findings,  reached  quite 
independently  conclusions  identical  with  mine,  namely,  that  the 
coordination  of  the  inferiority  of  the  sexual  apparatus  with  other 
organ-inferiorities,  though  frequently  only  slightly  developed,  is 
nevertheless  so  often  found  to  exist  that  I  must  maintain  that 
there  exist  no  organ-inferiorities  without  an  accompanying  defect 
in  the  sexual  apparatus. 

Because  of  some  future  considerations  I  must  also  mention 
certain  of  the  views  of  Freud  who  assumes  a  sexual  constitution 
as  the  basis  of  the  neuroses  and  psychoses,  under  which  term  he 
understands  a  qualitatively  and  quantitatively  varying  arrange- 
ment of  partial  sex  impulses.  This  assumption  simply  corresponds 
to  a  postulate  advanced  by  him  for  his  other  views.  The 
development  of  perverse  inclinations  and  their  unsuccessful 
repression  into  the  unconscious  furnishes,  according  to  him,  the 
picture  of  the  neurosis,  and  in  itself  forms  the  primary  cause  for 
the  neurotic  psyche.  We  shall  see  from  our  considerations  that 
perversion  so  far  as  it  reaches  development  in  the  neurosis  and 
psychosis  is  not  dependent  upon  a  connate  impulse,  but  that  it 
arises  from  the  striving  towards  a  fictitious  goal  in  connection 
with  which  the  repression  takes  place  as  a  by-product  under  the 
pressure  of  the  self-consciousness. 


That  which,  however,  is  to  be  taken  cognizance  of  biologically 
in  an  originally  abnormal  sexual  conduct,  namely,  the  greater  or 
lesser  sensitiveness,  the  heightened  or  lowered  reflex  activity, 
the  functional  valency  as  well  as  the  compensatory  psychic  super- 
structure indicates  directly  as  I  have  shown  in  my  "  Studie  "  a 
congenital  defect  of  the  sexual  organ. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  predisposition  to  disease 
dependent  upon  organ-inferiority  there  exists  a  unanimity  of 
opinion.  The  standpoint  assumed  by  me  ("Studie,"  I.e.) 
emphasizes  more  strongly  than  does  that  of  other  authors,  the 
assurance  of  an  adjustment  through  compensation.  With  the 
release  from  the  maternal  organism  there  begins  for  these  inferior 
organs  or  systems  of  organs  the  struggle  with  the  outside  world, 
which  must  of  necessity  ensue  and  which  is  initiated  with  greater 
vehemence  than  in  the  more  normally  developed  apparatus. 
This  struggle  is  accompanied  by  greater  mortality  and  morbidity 
rates.  This  fetal  character,  however,  at  the  same  time  furnishes 
the  increased  possibility  for  compensation  and  over- 
compensation,  increases  the  adaptability  to  ordinary  and  extra- 
ordinary resistances  and  assures  the  attainment  of  new  and 
higher  forms,  new  and  higher  accomplishments. 

Thus  the  inferior  organs  furnish  the  inexhaustible  material 
by  means  of  which  the  organism  continuously  seeks  to  reach  a 
better  accord  with  the  altered  conditions  of  life  through 
adaptation,  repudiation,  and  improvement.  Its  hypervalency  is 
deeply  rooted  in  the  compulsion  of  a  constant  training,  in  the 
variability  and  greater  tendency  to  growth,  frequently  associated 
with  inferior  organs,  and  in  the  more  facile  evolution  of  the 
appertaining  nervous  and  psychic  complexes,  on  account  of  the 
introspection  and  concentration  bestowed  on  them.  The  evils  of 
constitutional  inferiority  manifest  themselves  in  the  most  varied 
diseases  and  predispositions  to  disease. 

At  times  various  somatic  or  mental  disabilities  develop,  at 
other  times  an  over-irritability  of  the  nerve  tracts,  then  again 
clumsiness  of  manner,  ungainliness,  precocity.  A  host  of  child- 
hood defects  cooperate  with  the  predisposition  to  disease  and 
form  a  close  union,  as  I  have  shown,  with  the  organic  or 
functional  inferiority.  Strabismus,  anomalies  of  refraction  of 
the  visual  apparatus  or  photophobia  with  its  train  of  symptoms, 
deaf  mutism,  stuttering  and  other  defects  of  speech,  difficulty  of 
hearing,  the  organic  and  psychic  defects  which  go  with  adenoid 
vegetations,  the  complete  aprosexia,  the  frequent  affections  of 
the  sensory  organs,  of  the  respiratory  and  digestive  tracts, 
striking  ugliness  and  deformities,  peripheral  stigmata  of 
degeneration  and  naevi  which  may  indicate  more  profound  organ- 
inferiorities  (Adler,  Schmidt).  Hydrocephalus,  rickets, 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  5 

anomalies  of  stature  as  scoliosis,  round  shoulders,  genu  varus 
or  valgus,  pes  varus  or  valgus,  a  protracted  incontinence  of 
faeces  and  urine,  malformations  of  the  genitals,  results  of  small 
arteries  (Virchow)  and  the  numerous  consequences  of  defects  of 
the  internal  secretory  glands  as  described  by  Wagner  v. 
Yauregg,  Frankl  v.  Hochwert,  Chvostek,  Bartel,  Escherich, 
Pineles  and  others,  all  of  which  reveal  in  their  great  abundance, 
in  the  variety  of  their  combinations,  the  large  sphere  of  disease 
manifestations  as  disclosed  to  the  physician  through  an  under- 
standing of  organ-inferiority.  It  was  especially  pediatrists  and 
pathologists  who  first  noted  these  relationships.  But  the  concept 
of  degeneracy  has  likewise  become  of  increasing  importance  to 
neurology  and  psychiatry.  The  line  of  advance  stretches  all  the 
way  from  Morel's  theory  of  the  stigmata  of  degeneration  to  the 
consideration  of  nervous  diseases  from  the  standpoint  of  an 
inferior  constitution.  We  need  only  consider  the  statistical  study 
of  Thiemich-Birks  and  Potpeschnigg's  contributions  (cited  by 
Gott)  concerning  the  fate  of  children  who  were  treated  in  the 
first  and  second  years  of  their  lives  for  tetanoid  convulsions.  Of 
these  children  only  a  small  number  became  entirely  well.  In  most 
instances  there  were  found  later  definite  signs  of  somatic  and 
psychic  inferiority,  psychopathic  and  neuropathic  characteristics. 
As  such,  these  authors  mention  infantilism,  squints,  difficulty  of 
hearing,  speech  defects,  feeble-mindedness,  disturbances  of 
sleep,  pavor  nocturnus,  somnambulism,  enuresis,  exaggerated 
reflexes,  tics,  paroxysms  of  rage,  truancy,  timidity,  pathological 
lying  and  habitual  fugues. 

Gott  as  well  as  other  authors  reached  the  conclusion  that  in 
spasmophilic  children  there  exists  a  predisposition  to  severe 
neurotic  and  psychopathic  states.  Czerny  and  others  maintain 
that  a  similar  relationship  may  be  found  in  children  suffering 
from  gastro-intestinal  disorders. 

Bartel  was  able  to  discover  among  suicides  a  considerable 
preponderance  of  the  status  thymicolymphaticus,  especially  a 
hypoplasia  of  the  sexual  organs.  The  existence  of  somatic 
inferiority  among  juvenile  suicides  was  shown  by  me,  Netslitzky 
and  others.  Frankl  v.  Hochwert  described  states  of  excitement, 
irritability  and  hallucinatory  confusion,  in  tetany.  French  writers 
(cited  from  Pfaundler)  ascribe  to  the  torpid  habitus  of  children, 
moroseness,  indolence,  sleepiness,  distractibility,  stupidity  and 
phlegmatism,  to  the  erotistic  type,  restlessness,  liveliness, 
irritability,  precocity,  moodiness,  affectivity,  unsociability, 
peculiarity  of  disposition  and  one-sided  development.  Pfaundler 
emphasizes  the  harassing,  tormenting  and  painful  influences  to 
which  defective  children  are  subject  as  a  result  of  skin  eruptions, 
colic,  disturbances  of  sleep  and  functional  anomalies.  Czerny, 


6  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

who  called  attention  to  the  relationship  between  intestinal 
disturbances  of  children  and  neuroses,  emphasizes  especially  the 
importance  of  psychotherapy  in  children  who  became  neurotic  in 
the  course  of  constitutional  diseases.  Only  recently  Hamburger 
has  thrown  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  ambitions  in  neurotic 
children,  while  Stransky  showed  the  relation  between  myopathy 
and  psychic  manifestations. 

These  brief  references  give  us  an  insight  into  the  attempts  of 
the  present  day  scientific  trends  to  emphasize  and  maintain  the 
relation  between  psychic  anomalies  in  childhood  and 
constitutional  inferiority.  The  first  comprehensive  fundamental 
views  concerning  this  relation  were  published  by  me  in  the 

Studie,"  wherein  I  showed  how  the  inferior  organ  constantly 
endeavors  to  make  a  very  special  demand  upon  the  interest  and 
attention.  I  was  able  to  prove  in  this  and  other  contributions  to 
what  extent  inferiority  of  an  organ  constantly  shows  its  influence 
on  the  psyche  in  action,  in  thought,  in  dreams,  in  the  choice  of 
a  vocation  and  in  artistic  inclinations  and  capabilities.1 

The  existence  of  an  inferior  organ  demands  a  kind  of  training 
on  the  part  of  the  appertaining  nerve  tracts  and  on  the  part  01 
the  psychic  superstructure  which  would  render  the  latter  active 
in  a  compensatory  manner  when  a  possibility  for  compensation 
exists.  In  such  an  event,  however,  we  must  likewise  find  a 
reenforcement  in  the  psychic  superstructure  of  certain  allied 
points  of  contact  which  the  inferior  organ  has  with  the  outside 
world. 

To  the  originally  inferior  organ  of  vision  corresponds  a 
reenforced  visual  psyche  ;  a  defective  digestive  apparatus  will 
be  accompanied  by  a  greater  psychic  capability  in  all  nutritional 
directions,  as  gourmondism,  acquisitiveness,  and  where  it 
concerns  money  equivalents,  stinginess  and  greed,  will  be 
manifested  to  an  extraordinary  degree. 

The  ability  of  the  compensating  nervous  system  will  manifest 
itself  through  qualified  reflexes  (Adler)  and  conditioned  reflexes 
(Bickel)  by  means  of  sensitive  reactions  and  exaggerated 
sensitiveness.  The  compensating  psychic  superstructure  will 
bring  about  an  accentuated  manifestation  of  the  psychic 
phenomena  of  presentiments  and  forethoughts  and  their  effective 
factors  such  as  memory,  intuition,  introspection,  analysis, 
attention,  hypersensitiveness,  in  brief,  of  all  the  fortifying 
•psychic  forces.  To  these  reassuring  forces  belong  also  the 
fixation  and  accentuation  of  those  traits  which  form  useful 

1  See  also  Adler.  "  The  Theory  of  Organ-inferiority  and  Its  Significance  fot 
Philosophy  and  Psychology."  Address  in  the  Philosophic  Society  of  the  Vienna 
University,  1908,  and  J.  Keich,  "Art  and  the  Eye,*'  Oeaterreichische  Kundschau, 
1908. 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  7 

guiding  principles  in  the  chaos  of  life,  thus  diminishing  the 
feeling  of  uncertainty. 

The  neurotic  individual  is  derived  from  this  sphere  of 
uncertainty  and  in  his  childhood  is  under  the  pressure  of  his 
constitutional  inferiority.  In  most  cases  this  may  be  easily 
detected.  In  other  cases  the  patient  behaves  as  if  he  were 
inferior.  In  all  cases,  however,  his  striving  and  thinking  are 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  feeling  of  inferiority.  This  feeling 
must  always  be  understood  in  a  relative  sense,  as  the  outgrowth 
of  the  individual's  relation  to  his  environment  or  to  his  strivings. 
He  has  constantly  been  drawing  comparisons  between  himself 
and  others,  at  first  with  his  father,  as  the  strongest  in  the  family, 
sometimes  with  his  mother,  his  brothers  and  sisters,  later  with 
every  person  with  whom  he  comes  into  contact.  Upon  closer 
analysis,  one  finds  that  every  child,  especially  the  one  less 
favored  by  nature,  has  made  a  careful  estimate  of  his  own  value. 
The  constitutionally  inferior  child,  the  unattractive  child,  the 
child  too  strictly  reared,  the  pampered  child,  all  of  whom  we 
may  align  as  being  predisposed  to  the  development  of  a  neurosis, 
seek  more  diligently  than  does  the  normal  child  to  avoid  the  evils 
of  their  existence.  They  soon  long  to  banish  into  a  distant 
future  the  fate  which  confronts  them.  In  order  to  bring  this 
about,  he,  the  defective  child,  requires  an  expedient  which 
enables  him  to  keep  before  his  eyes  a  fixed  picture  in  the 
vicissitudes  of  life  and  the  uncertainty  of  his  existence.  He  turns 
fo  the  construction  of  this  expedient.  He  sums  up  in  his  self- 
estimation  all  evils,  considers  himself  incompetent,  inferior, 
degraded,  insecure.  And  in  order  to  find  a  guiding  principle  he 
takes  as  a  second  fixed  point  his  father  or  mother  who  endowed 
him  with  all  the  attributes  of  life. 

And  in  adjusting  this  guiding  principle  to  his  thinking  and 
acting,  in  his  endeavors  to  raise  himself  to  the  level  of  his  (all- 
powerful)  father,  even  to  the  point  of  surpassing  the  latter,  he 
has  quite  removed  himself  with  one  mighty  bound  from  reality 
and  is  suspended  in  the  meshes  of  a  fiction. 

Similar  observations  may  also  be  made  in  a  lesser  degree 
among  normal  children.  They  too  desire  to  be  great,  to  be 
strong,  to  rule  as  the  father,  and  are  guided  by  this  objective. 
Their  conduct,  their  psychical  and  physical  attitude  is  constantly 
directed  towards  this  goal,  so  that  one  may  almost  detect  a  true 
imitation,  an  identical  psychic  gesture. 

Example  becomes  the  guide  to  the  "  masculine  "  goal,  so  long 
as  the  masculinity  is  not  doubted.  Should  the  idea  of  "  the 
masculine  goal  "  become  unacceptable  to  girls,  then  there  takes 
place  a  change  of  form  of  this  "  masculine  "  guiding  principle. 
One  can  scarcely  evaluate  this  phenomenon  in  a  more  correct 


8  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

way  than  by  assuming  that  the  necessary  denial  of  the 
gratification  of  certain  organic  functions  forces  the  child  from  the 
first  hour  of  his  extrauterine  life  into  assuming  a  combative 
attitude  towards  his  environment.  From  this  result  tensions  and 
accentuations  of  certain  organically  acquired  abilities — c'est  la 
guerre  ! — as  I  have  described  them  in  my  "  Studie  "  and  the 
"  Aggressionstrieb." 

In  the  temporary  denials  and  discomforts  which  the  first  years 
of  childhood  bring  with  them,  one  must  seek  the  impulse  for  the 
development  of  a  host  of  common  traits  of  character.  Above  all 
the  child  learns,  in  his  weakness  and  helplessness,  in  his  anxiety 
and  manifold  shortcomings  to  value  an  expedient  which  assures 
him  of  the  help  and  support  of  his  relatives  and  guarantees  their 
concern.  In  his  negativistic  behavior,  in  his  obstinacy  and 
refractoriness,  he  often  finds  a  gratification  of  his  consciousness 
of  his  own  powers,  thus  ridding  himself  of  the  painful  realization 
of  his  inferiority.  Both  mainsprings  of  the  child's  behavior, 
obstinacy  and  obedience  (Adler,  '  Trotz  and  Gehorsam  ") 
guarantee  to  him  an  accentuation  of  his  feeling  of  ego-conscious- 
ness and  assist  him  in  groping  his  way  towards  the  masculine 
goal  or,  as  we  wished  to  adduce  before,  towards  the  equivalent  of 
this.  The  awakening  self-consciousness  is  always  being 
suppressed  in  constitutionally  inferior  children,  their  self-esteem 
is  lowered  because  their  capacity  for  gratification  is  much  more 
limited. 

Let  us  consider  the  numerous  restrictions,  the  courses  of 
treatment  and  the  sufferings  of  children  ill  with  gastro-intestinal 
derangements  ;  the  effeminacy  and  fastidiousness  seen  in  the 
anaemic,  weakly  children  suffering  from  respiratory  disorders  ; 
the  itching  and  tortures  of  those  afflicted  with  prurigo  and  other 
exanthemata  ;  the  many  degrading  defects  of  childhood  ;  the  fear 
of  contamination  on  the  part  of  the  parents  of  such  children 
which  often  leads,  as  do  the  frequent  difficulties  in  their  bringing 
up — in  their  school  progress  as  well  as  the  stubbornness  of  these 
children — to  an  isolation  and  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of 
their  comrades  and  within  the  family  circle.  In  the  same  manner 
the  self-consciousness  is  injured  by  rachitic  clumsiness, 
congenital  obesity  and  the  lesser  grades  of  mental  backwardness. 
The  child  usually  explains  his  difficulty  by  the  assumption  of  a 
neglect,  a  slight  by  the  parents,  especially  as  it  occurs  in  later 
children  or  in  the  youngest,  occasionally  even  in  the  first  born. 
This  hostile  aggression,  reenforced  and  accentuated  in 
constitutionally  inferior  children,  becomes  confluent  with  his 
effort  to  become  as  great  and  strong  as  the  strongest  and  thrusts 
forward  activities  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  infantile 

*  Adler,  "  Der  Aggressionstrieb  im  Lichen  und  in  der  Neurose,"  1.  c. 


ambition.  All  later  trains  of  thought  and  activities  of  the  neurotic 
are  constructed  similarly  with  his  childhood  wish  phantasy.  The 
"  recurrence  of  the  identical  "  (Nietzsche)  is  nowhere  so  well 
illustrated  as  in  the  neurotic.  His  feeling  of  inferiority  in  the 
presence  of  men  and  things,  his  uncertainty  in  the  world  force 
him  to  an  accentuation  of  his  guiding  principles.  To  these  he 
clings  throughout  life  in  order  to  orient  himself  in  existence  by 
means  of  his  beliefs  and  superstitions,  in  order  to  overcome  his 
feeling  of  inferiority,  in  order  to  rescue  his  sense  of  ego- 
consciousness,  in  order  to  possess  a  subterfuge  to  avoid  a  much- 
dreaded  degradation.  Never  has  he  succeeded  so  well  in  this  as 
during  his  childhood.  His  guiding  fiction  which  makes  him 
behave  as  if  he  surpassed  all  others  may  therefore  also  bring 
about  a  form  of  conduci:  identical  with  that  of  the  child. 

In  such  manner  then  the  infantile  gratifications  become  criteria 
and  thus  strengthen  the  guiding  principle.  It  would  be  amiss  to 
assume  that  only  the  neurotic  exhibits  such  "guiding  principles." 
The  healthy  individual  would  also  have  to  do  without  orientation 
in  the  world  if  he  did  not  arrange  the  cosmic  picture  and  his 
experience  according  to  some  imaginary  fiction.  Tn  hours  of 
uncertainty  these  fictions  come  to  the  fore  more  distinctly  and 
become  the  imperative  influences  dominating  beliefs,  ideals  and 
free  will ;  moreover  they  also  act  secretly  in  the  unconscious  like 
all  other  psychic  mechanisms  whose  verbal  image  they  represent 
in  conscious  thought.  Logically  considered  they  are  to  be 
regarded  as  abstractions,  as  simplifications,  which  have  for  their 
object  the  solution  of  life's  difficulties  in  a  manner  analogous  to 
that  required  for  the  simplest  experiences.  The  original  type 
of  these  simplest  experiences,  the  mesh  work  of  apperceptive 
memory,  we  found  in  studying  the  child's  efforts  to  solve  his 
difficulties.  In  dreams  this  form  of  apperception  is  still  more 
obvious  ;  we  shall  consider  this  subject  later. 

The  neurotic  carries  his  feeling  of  inferiority  constantly  with 
him.  Hence  his  method  of  thinking  by  analogy  is  more  strongly 
and  clearly  developed. 

His  "  misoneism  "  (Lombroso),  his  fear  of  the  new,  of 
decisions  and  tests,  which  is  usually  present,  originates  from  the 
lack  of  analogy  for  these  new  conditions.  He  has  chained  himself 
so  strongly  to  guiding  principles,  taken  them  so  literally  and 
sought  to  realize  them  only,  that  unconsciously  he  has  become 
incapable  of  proceeding  freely  and  without  prejudice  to  the 
solution  of  real  problems.  Even  the  necessary  limitations 
imposed  by  reality,  where  matters  clash  for  want  of  room,  do 
not  impel  him  to  reject  his  fiction  because  he  is  forced  to  suspend 
it,  but  only  to  alter  it.  Still  more  consequentially  the  psychotic 
patient  strives  to  bring  about  a  realization  of  his  fiction.  The 


io  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

neurotic  in  real  life  flounders  in  his  self-created  guiding  principle 
and  thus  arrives  at  a  splitting  of  the  personality  in  seeking  to  do 
justice  to  both  the  real  and  the  imaginary  requirements.  The 
form  and  content  of  the  neurotic  "  guiding  principle  "  originate 
from  the  impressions  of  the  child  who  feels  himself  neglected. 
These  impressions,  which  of  necessity  develop  out  of  an  original 
sense  of  inferiority,  call  forth  an  aggressive  attitude  in  life,  the 
object  of  which  is  the  overcoming  of  the  uncertainty.  In  this 
attitude  of  aggression  all  those  efforts  of  the  child  which  tend 
toward  an  elevation  of  his  feeling  of  ego-consciousness  find  their 
place,  successful  efforts  which  prompt  a  repetition,  unsuccessful 
ones  which  serve  as  mementoes  for  those  goal-preparing 
tendencies  developed  out  of  a  conspicuous  organic  disease  and 
which  express  themselves  in  a  mass  of  psychic  predispositions, 
as  well  as  those  observed  in  others.  All  the  phenomena  of  the 
neuroses  originate  from  these  predisposing  means  which  tend 
toward  the  attainment  of  the  final  object,  masculinity.  They  are 
mental  predispositions  always  ready  to  initiate  the  struggle  for 
ego-consciousness,  they  obey  the  command  of  the  guiding 
principle  which  seeks  to  realize  itself  through  the  channels  of 
reactions  lying  ready  at  hand  in  childhood.  In  the  developed 
neuroses  the  fiction  stimulates  all  these  predispositions  where- 
upon they  comport  themselves  as  independent  final  purposes. 
Anxiety,  which  formerly  sought  to  furnish  assurance  against 
being  alone,  against  underestimation,  against  the  feeling  of 
insignificance,  is  hypostasized  ;  the  compulsion,  originally  in  the 
sense  of  the  fiction  to  preserve  a  manly  behavior,  becomes 
independent ;  in  fainting,  in  paralysis,  in  the  hysterical  pains  and 
functional  disturbances,  the  pseudo-masochistic  method  of  the 
patient  is  symbolically  represented,  in  which  he  seeks  to  attract 
attention  or  to  avoid  a  decision  which  is  feared.  The  important 
role  played  by  the  neurotic  uncertainty,  as  I  have  recognized  and 
described  it,  leads  to  that  sort  of  strengthening  of  the  predis- 
position and  its  consequences  which  makes  the  originally 
unimportant  phenomena  of  a  functional  nature  assume  the  most 
astonishing  exaggeration  as  soon  as  the  inner  exigency  demands 
it. 

The  gaze  of  the  neurotic,  on  account  of  this  feeling  of 
uncertainty,  is  directed  far  into  the  future.  All  present  existence 
is  to  him  only  a  preparation.  Moreover  this  circumstance  is 
largely  responsible  for  encouraging  his  dreaming  proclivities  and 
estranging  him  from  the  world  of  reality.  As  with  religious 
persons  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  and  like  them  he 
cannot  free  himself  from  his  self-created  deity,  the  exaltation  of 
his  ego-consciousness.  A  host  of  general  traits  of  character  of 
necessity  develop  in  an  individual  thus  turned  away  from  reality. 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  n 

First  of  all  must  be  mentioned  the  deep  reverence  in  which  are 
held  the  expedients  which  subserve  the  fiction.  An  individual  of 
this  type  will  as  a  rule  manifest  a  carefully  adjusted  mode  of 
behavior,  exactness  and  pedantry,  first  of  all,  in  order  not  to 
increase  the  great  difficulties  of  life  and  secondly  and  principally, 
in  order  to  distinguish  himself  from  others  in  dress,  in  work,  in 
morals,  and  thus  acquire  for  himself  a  feeling  of  superiority.  This 
exaggerated  trait  of  character  usually  serves  also  to  bring  him 
face  to  face  with  the  enemy,  to  furnish  the  opportunity  tor  a 
maturing  of  such  situations  as  will  bring  him  into  conflict  with 
his  environment  so  that  he  finds  occasion  for  giving  vent  to 
reproaches.  At  the  same  time  these  constant  reproaches  serve 
to  keep  alive  his  feeling,  his  attention,  to  the  fact  that  people  are 
neglecting  him,  that  they  are  not  taking  him  into  account.  This 
trait  may  be  found  even  in  the  childhood  of  certain  neurotics 
where  it  serves  the  purpose  of  putting  some  one  at  their  service, 
say  the  mother,  who  must  take  care  of  their  clothes  every 
evening  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  in  a  definitely  prescribed 
manner.  In  a  similarly  remarkable  manner,  anxiety  and  timidity 
gain  expression  and  I  must  adhere  to  the  opinion,  in  spite  of  all 
other  attempts  at  explanation,  that  the  psychic  phenomena  of 
anxiety  originate  from  an  hallucinatory  excitation  of  a  pre- 
disposition which  in  childhood  developed  automatically  from 
small  beginnings  as  soon  as  a  bodily  injury  was  threatened,  and 
which  in  later  life,  especially  in  the  neuroses,  is  conditioned  by 
the  final  goal,  namely,  to  escape  a  lowering  of  ego-consciousness 
and  to  make  oneself  of  service  to  others.  It  is  easy  to  understand 
how  all  wish-phantasies  may  attain  an  enormous  degree,  just  as 
attainment  seldom  brings  with  it  satisfaction.  One  may  assume 
without  fear  of  contradiction  that  a  neurotic  "  wishes  to  have 
everything."  This  desire  coincides  with  his  "  guiding  fiction 
to  become  potent.  If  he  draws  back  in  horror  before  under- 
takings which  promise  advantage,  as  he  usually  does  before 
crimes  and  immoral  acts,  it  is  because  he  entertains  fears  for  the 
safety  of  his  ego-consciousness.  For  this  reason  he  recoils  in 
horror  from  lying,  but  in  order  to  proceed  with  certainty  and  in 
order  to  preserve  steadfastness  he  may  harbor  the  thought  that 
he  is  capable  of  great  evils  and  crimes.  That  this  obstinate 
pursuit  of  the  fiction  implies  a  social  injury  is  obvious. 

The  egoism  of  neurotics,  their  envy,  their  greed,  frequently 
unconscious,  their  tendency  to  undervalue  men  and  things, 
originate  in  their  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  serve  the  purpose  of 
assuring  them,  of  guiding  them  and  of  spurring  them  on.  As 
they  are  enveloped  in  phantasy  and  live  in  the  future,  their 
preoccupation  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The  variability  of 
temper  depends  on  the  play  of  the  phantasy  which  at  one  time 


12  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

awakens  painful  memories,  at  another  fills  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
an  expected  triumph,  analogous  to  the  vacillations  and  doubts  of 
the  neurotic.     In  the  same  way  special  traits  of  character  which 
are  not  foreign  to  the  normal  psyche  appear  to  be  directed  by  the 
hypnotizing  goal  and  strengthened    in    this    direction.     Sexual 
precocity  and  falling  in  love  are  forms    of    expression    for    the 
heightened  tendency  to  captivate.    Masturbation,  impotence  and 
perverse  excitements  lie  in  the  direction  of  the  guiding  line  of 
fear  of  a  partner  and  fear  of  separation,  along  with  which  sadism 
represents  the  desire  to  play  the  "  wild  man  "  in  order  to  over- 
come the  feeling  of  inferiority.    As  the  driving  force  and  goal  of 
the  neurosis  developing  out  of  a    constitutional    inferiority,    we 
have  up  to  this  point  regarded  the  accentuation  of  ego-conscious- 
ness which  constantly  strives  for  expression  with  especial  force. 
In  doing  so  we  have  not  ignored  the  fact  that  this  is  only  a  mode 
of  expression  of  a  striving  and  yearning  whose  beginnings  are 
deeply  rooted  in  human  nature.      The  form  of  expression  itself 
and  the  accentuation  of  this  guiding  thought,  which  may  also  be 
expressed  by  Nietzsche's  "  will  to  power,"  teaches  us  that  there 
is  an  especial  compensatory  force  at  play,  whose  object  it  is  to 
put  an  end  to  the  inner  uncertainty.     By  means  of  an  unyielding 
formula,  which  usually  presses  to  the  surface  of  consciousness, 
the  neurotic  seeks  to  obtain  the  fulcrum    whereby    to    lift    the 
world  off  its  hinges.  It  matters  but  little  how  much  of  this  driving 
force  becomes  consciously  known  to  the  neurotic.    The  mechanism 
itself  he  never  understands,  neither  is  he  able  to    explain    and 
break  down  unaided  his  mode    of    apperception    by    means    of 
analogy  and  the  conduct  resulting  therefrom.     This    can    only 
succeed  by  means  of  an  analytic  process  which    permits    us    to 
divine     and    understand    his    infantile    analogy   by    means    of 
abstraction,  reduction  and  simplification.     In  this  way  one  finds 
regularly  apparent  that  the  neurotic  always    apperceives    after 
the  analogy  of  a  contrast,  indeed,  that  usually  he  only  recognizes 
and  gives  value  to  relations  of  contrast.     This  primitive  mode  of 
orientation  in  life  which  corresponds  to    the    antithesis    as    set 
forth   in  the    categories  of   Aristotle  and   to  opposites   in   the 
Pythagorean  table  originates  also  in  the  feeling    of   uncertainty 
and  illustrates  a  simple  device  of  logic.    What  I  have  described 
as    polar,     hermaphroditic     opposites,    Lombroso    as    bipolar, 
Bleuler  as  ambivalent,  leads  to  this  same  method  of  apperception 
which  works  according  to  the  principal  of  opposites.    One  should 
not  fall  into  the  common  error  of  regarding  this  as  an  essence  of 
things,    but    must   recognize    in    it   the    primitive    method    ot 
procedure  which  measures  a  thing,  a  force,  or  an  event,  by  an 
opposite  which  is  fitted  to  it. 

The  further  the  analysis  proceeds  the  more  distinct  appears 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  13 

one  of  these  opposites,  the  original  form  of  which  we  have 
established  as  the  feeling  of  inferiority  and  the  maximation  of 
the  ego-consciousness.  This  only  agrees  with  the  primitive 
efforts  of  the  child  to  orient  himself  in  the  world  and  to  obtain 
certainty  when  tangible  antitheses  are  encountered.  Among 
these  I  have  regularly  found  the  following  :  (i).  Above — beneath. 
(2).  Masculine — feminine.  One  furthermore  always  finds  an 
arrangement  of  memories,  feelings  and  actions  according  to  this 
type  of  antitheses  in  the  sense  the  patient  takes  them  (not  always 
in  the  generally  accepted  sense),  i.e.,  inferior — beneath, 
feminine ;  powerful — above,  masculine.  This  grouping  is 
important  for  it  renders  possible,  because  it  can  be  conserved  or 
falsified  at  will,  the  distortion  of  the  cosmic  picture,  whereby  the 
neurotic  can  always  hold  fast  to  his  standpoint,  namely,  that  of 
a  neglected  person,  by  rearrangement,  by  accentuation  or  by 
arbitrary  changes.  It  lies  in  the  nature  of  things  that  in  this 
process  his  constitutional  inferiority  comes  to  his  assistance  as 
well  as  his  constantly  increasing  aggressive  environment  which 
is  continually  set  into  activity  by  the  neurotic  conduct  of  the 
patient., 

At  times  the  neurotic  is  not  fully  conscious  of  his  supposed  or 
real  defeat.  It  is  then  always  found  that  it  is  his  pride  which 
prevents  him  from  recognizing  it.  Nevertheless  he  acts  «s  if  he 
had  appreciated  the  new  degradation  and  the  riddle  of  a  nervous 
attack  is  often  only  solved  when  this  fact  is  understood.  The 
revelation  of  such  repressed  feelings  is  not  of  much  therapeutic 
value,  at  least,  it  can  only  be  of  value  when  by  means  of  it  the 
connection  with  the  infantile  mechanism  which  is  responsible  for 
the  predisposition  to  the  attack  becomes  apparent  to  the  patient. 
At  times  there  results  even  a  seeming  relapse  which  may  be 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  patient  directs  his  predispositions 
against  the  physician  because  the  latter  has  injured  his  feelings 
of  personal  worth. 

There  still  remains  to  be  answered  one  important  question. 
On  what  does  the  patient  base  his  feeling  of  inferiority? 
Inasmuch  as  the  patient  is  only  able  to  detect  the  possibility  of 
relationship  between  disease  predispositions  and  those  organ- 
inferiorities  which  force  themselves  upon  his  attention  he  is 
constantly  in  the  path  of  conjecture.  He  will  for  example  not 
seek  the  reason  for  his  inferiorities  in  the  disturbances  of  the 
secretions  of  the  glands,  but  will  blame  in  a  general  way  his 
weakness,  his  stunted  growth,  his  sham  education,  the  small  size 
or  anomalies  of  his  genitals,  lack  of  complete  virility,  his 
effeminacy,  the  feminine  traits  of  a  physical  or  psychic  nature, 
his  parents,  his  heredity  ;  at  times  only  lack  of  love,  bad  training, 
deprivation  in  childhood,  etc.  And  what  about  his  neurosis,  the 


14  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

neurosis  in  the  sense  we  understand  it  ?  We  shall  find  that  the 
accentuation  of  his  predispositions  on  an  analogic,  childish  basis, 
that  his  symbolized  thoughts,  his  preparations  for  feelings,  and 
results  used  by  him  as  means  of  expression  will  spring  into  action 
as  soon  as  the  patient  fears  or  experiences  a  set-back.  Being 
from  a  certain  situation,  so  to  speak,  inoculated  with  the  feelings 
of  inferiority,  he  exhibits  an  anaphylactic  reaction  against 
depreciation  of  his  ego-consciousness  and  finds  in  irresolution, 
in  vacillation,  in  doubt  and  in  skepticism,  as  well  as  in  the 
breaking  out  of  a  neurosis  or  a  psychosis,  a  refuge  and  security 
against  the  greatest  evil  that  could  befall  him,  namely,  the 
conjuring  up  of  a  distinct  realization  of  his  inferiority.  In  line 
with  this  the  typical  causes  of  the  onset  of  a  neurosis  and 
psychosis  are  easy  to  divine  and  to  prove  : 

1.  The  desire  for  knowledge  of  sex  differences,  the  uncertainty 
concerning  his  own  sexual  role,  may  be  looked  upon  as  causes 
of  the  arousing  of    the    feeling    of    inferiority.      Likewise    the 
realization  and  grouping  of  traits  believed  to  be  feminine,  the 
vacillating,     doubting,      hermaphrodistic      apperception       and 
hermaphrodistic  predisposition.     Predisposition  to  and  psychic 
gestures  of  the  feminine  role  always  entail    greater    passivity, 
anxious  anticipation,  etc.,  but  call  forth  the  masculine  protest, 
stronger  emotivity.   (Heymanns) 

2.  Onset  of  menstruation. 

3.  Epoch  of  menstrual  activity. 

4.  Epoch  of  sexual  activity. 

5.  The  stage  of  fitness  for  marriage. 

6.  Pregnancy. 

7.  Puerperium. 

8.  Climacteric,  reduction  of  potency. 
Examinations,  choice  of  profession. 
Danger  of  death. 

All  these  epochs  call  forth  heightening  of  or  changes  in  the 
preparatory  attitude  toward  life.  The  bond  common  to  them  all 
which  holds  them  together  is  the  expectation  of  new  events 
which  imply  for  the  neurotic  new  struggles,  new  dangers  of  a  set- 
back. He  proceeds  therefore  immediately  to  intensive  protective 
measures,  the  most  extreme  of  which  is  suicide.  Outbreaks  of 
neuroses  and  psychoses  represent  accentuations  of  his  neurotic 
preparedness,  predispositions  in  which  are  always  found 
prominent  traits  of  character,  calculated  to  guarantee  this  sort  of 
security,  such  as  exaggeration  of  hypersensitiveness,  greater 
carefulness,  irritability,  pedantry,  obstinacy,  stinginess,  dis- 
content, impatience,  and  many  others.  As  these  traits  are  easily 
demonstrable,  they  are  especially  suitable  for  determining  the 
existence  of  a  psychogenic  disorder. 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  15 

We  arrived  at  the  conclusion  in  the  foregoing  that  it  is  the 
feeling  of  uncertainty  which  forces  the  neurotic  to  a  stronger 
attachment  to  fictions,  guiding  principles,  ideals,  dogmas.  These 
guiding  principles  float  before  the  normal  person  also.  Buttohim 
they  are  a  figure  of  speech,  a  device  for  distinguishing  above  from 
below,  left  from  right,  right  from  wrong,  and  he  is  not  so  involved 
in  prejudice  that  when  called  upon  to  make  a  decision  he  cannot 
free  himself  from  the  abstract  and  reckon  with  reality.  Just  as 
little  do  the  phenomena  of  life  resolve  themselves  for  him  into 
strict  antitheses,  but  on  the  contrary  he  is  striving  constantly  to 
keep  his  thoughts  and  actions  detached  from  this  unreal  principle 
and  to  bring  them  into  harmony  with  reality.  That  he  uses 
artifices  at  all  as  a  means  to  an  end  arises  from  the  usefulness  of 
the  fiction  in  casting  up  the  accounts  of  life.  The  neurotic, 
however,  like  the  child  devoid  of  contact  with  life  and  like  the 
primitive  understanding  of  early  man  catches  at  the  straw  of  his 
fiction,  hypostasizes  it,  arbitrarily  ascribes  to  it  a  real  value  and 
seeks  to  realize  it  in  the  world.  For  this  the  fiction  is  unfitted, 
still  more  unfitted  when,  as  in  the  psychoses,  it  is  elevated  to  a 
dogma  or  anthropomorphosed.  The  symbol  as  a  "  modus 
dicendi  "  dominates  our  speech  and  thought.  The  neurotic  takes 
it  literally  and  in  the  psychosis  the  realization  is  attempted.  In 
my  contributions  to  the  theory  of  the  neuroses  this  point  is 
constantly  emphasized  and  maintained.  A  fortunate  circumstance 
made  me  acquainted  with  Vaihinger's  ingenious  "  Philosophy 
of  ,the  '  As  If  '  '  (Berlin,  1911),  a  work  in  which  I  found  the 
trains  of  thought  suggested  to  me  by  the  neurosis  set  forth  as 
valid  for  general  scientific  thought. 

After  we  have  established  that  the  fictitious  guiding  goal  of  the 
neurotic  consists  of  an  unlimited  heightening  of  the  ego- 
consciousness  which  deteriorates  into  the  "  will  to  seem 
(Nietzsche)  we  may  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  abstract 
conception  of  these  problems  of  life.  Inasmuch  as  in  seeking  the 
sex  differentiation  the  role  of  the  male  is  given  a  decided 
preference,  the  formal  changes  agreeing  with  the  antithesis, 
man-woman,  begin  at  an  early  period  and  for  the  neurotic  arises 
the  formula  ' '  I  must  act  as  though  I  were  a  complete  man  (or 
would  become  one)."  The  feeling  of  inferiority  and  its  conse- 
quences become  identified  with  the  feeling  of  effeminacy,  the 
compensatory  pressure  in  the  psychic  superstructure  impels 
toward  obtaining  a  guarantee  that  the  manly  r61e  will  be 
preserved  and  the  meaning  of  the  neurosis  assumes  the  form  of 
the  antithetical,  fundamental  thought,  "  I  am  a  woman  and  will 
be  a  man." 

This  guiding  final  purpose   supplies  the  psychic  gestures   and 
predispositions  necessary  for  this  thought,  but  is  expressed  like- 


16  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

•wise  in  the  attitudes  of  the  body  and  in  mimicry.  And  with  these 
prepared  gestures,  of  which  the  neurotic  traits  of  character  are 
to  be  considered  a  heralding,  the  neurotic  confronts  persons  and 
life,  anxiously  and  with  strained  attention  asking  if  he  will  prove 
himself  a  man.  Sham  combats  play  a  great  role  ;  they  are  begun 
so  that  the  neurotic  may  exercise  himself,  that  lie  may  gain 
experience  from  other  or  similar  conditions,  so  that  he  may 
become  more  cautious,  and  in  order  to  obtain  proof  from  example 
that  he  dare  not  venture  upon  the  main  battle.  How  much  in  this 
he  rearranges,  exaggerates,  depreciates,  which  is  possible  to 
him  from  a  certain  arbitrariness  (Meyerhoff),  how  he  falsely 
classifies  and  how  he  seeks  to  put  his  fiction  on  firm  foundation, 
demand  a  separate  consideration,  such  as  I  have  tentatively 
furnished  in  the  preliminary  work  for  this  book.  That  in  this 
masculine  protest,  however,  there  lies  for  the  neurotic  the  more 
fundamentally  compensating  "will  to  power"  which  may  change 
the  value  of  feelings  and  even  transform  pleasure  into  pain  is 
proved  by  the  frequent  cases  where  the  direct  effort  to  act  like  a 
man  meets  with  obstacles  and  avails  itself  of  a  circuitous  route,  in 
which  event  the  role  of  the  woman  is  overvalued,  passive  traits 
are  strengthened,  masochistic,  and  in  men,  passive  homosexual 
traits  emerge,  by  means  of  which  the  patient  hopes  to  gain  power 
over  men  and  women  :  in  short,  the  masculine  protest  makes  use 
of  the  feminine  role  in  order  to  attain  its  purpose. 

That  this  device  is  likewise  dictated  by  the  ct  will  to  power 
is  proved  by  the  further  neurotic  traits  which  strive  for  mastery 
and  superiority  in  the  most  extreme  form.     This  apperception, 
however,  brings  the  sexual  jargon  into  the  neurosis  which  must 
be  regarded  as  symbolic  and  requires  interpretation. 

Side  by  side  with  or  dominating  it  is  found  in  neurotics  the 
method  of  apperception  which  arranges  perception  according  to 
the  spatial  antithesis,  above-beneath.  Also,  for  this  primitive 
attempt  at  orientation,  which  the  neurotic  emphasizes  very 
strongly,  one  finds  analogies  in  primitive  people.  However, 
while  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  masculine  principle  is 
identified  with  perfection,  we  are  forced  to  guesses  in  regard  to 
the  valuation  of  "above"  as  the  equal  of  the  principle.  A  certain 
probability  seems  to  give  color  to  the  opinion  that  the  value 
and  significance  of  the  upper  part  of  the  body  in  comparison  with 
the  feet  furnishes  the  explanation.  Still  more  important  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  valuation  of  the  word  above  and  its  covaluation 
with  perfection  originates  in  the  longing  of  man  to  lift  himself, 
to  fly,  to  do  that  which  is  impossible  for  man.  The  universal 
flying  dreams  and  the  efforts  of  man  in  the  same  direction  seem 
to  confirm  this  opinion.  That  in  the  congressus  sexualis  the 


THE  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  17 

"  above  "  is  confluent  with  the  masculine  principle  does  not 
seem  without  significance. 

The  reenforcement  of  the  fiction  in  the  neurosis  causes  a 
concentration  of  the  attention  on  those  points  of  view  regarded 
by  the  neurotic  as  important.  Therefrom  results  the  narrowing 
of  the  field  of  vision  and  the  psychic  preparation  as  motor  and 
psychic  predispositions.  Simultaneously,  the  more  accentuated 
neurotic  character  comes  into  force,  which  maintains  the 
assurance  of  the  fiction,  comes  in  touch  with  inimical  forces  and, 
spreading  itself  out  far  over  the  boundaries  of  personality,  into 
the  realms  of  space  and  time,  furnishes,  in  the  form  of  a 
secondary  guiding  line,  an  impetus  to  the  will  to  power.  The 
neurotic  attack,  finally,  like  the  strife  for  power,  has  for  its 
purpose  the  protection  of  the  ego-consciousness  from 
degradation. 

Therefore  from  constitutional  inferiority  there  arises  a  feeling 
of  inferiority  which  demands  a  compensation  in  the  sense  of  a 
maximation  of  the  ego-consciousness.  From  this  circumstance 
the  fiction  which  serves  as  a  final  purpose  acquires  an  astonishing 
influence  and  draws  all  the  psychic  forces  in  its  direction.  Itself 
an  outgrowth  of  the  striving  for  security,  it  organizes  psychic 
preparatory  measures  for  the  purpose  of  guaranteeing  security, 
among  which  the  neurotic  character  as  well  as  the  functional 
neurosis  are  noticeable  as  prominent  devices. 

The  guiding  fiction  has  a  simple,  infantile  scheme,  and 
influences  the  apperception  and  the  mechanism  of  memory. 


CHAPTER  II 

PSYCHIC  COMPENSATION  AND  ITS   SYNTHESIS 

OUR  examination  of  the  facts  has  led  us  to  understand  how  out 
of  the  absolute  inferiority  of  the  child  (especially  the  one 
constitutionally  burdened),  there  is  evolved  a  kind  of  self 
estimation  which  calls  forth  a' feeling  of  inferiority. 

Analogously  to  the  809  TTOV  a-rw  the  child  seeks  to  gain  a 
standpoint  which  will  enable  him  to  get  a  perspective  in  the 
problems  of  life.  From  this  point  of  departure,  which  is  taken  as 
a  fixed  pole  in  the  flux  of  phenomena,  the  child  psyche  projects 
its  thoughts  towards  the  goal  which  it  longs  to  reach.  These 
thoughts,  too,  are  apprehended  as  fixed  points  by  the  abstract 
conceptions  of  human  understanding  and  are  then  concretely 
interpreted.  The  aim  to  be  great,  to  be  strong,  to  be  a  man,  to 
be  "  above  "  is  symbolized  in  the  person  of  the  father,  the 
mother,  the  teacher,  the  coachman,  the  locomotive  engineer, 
etc.,  and  the  conduct,  the  attitude,  the  imitative  gestures,  the 
play  of  children  and  their  wishes,  the  day  dreams  and  favorite 
stories,  ideas  about  their  future  vocation  show  us  that  the 
compensatory  tendency  is  at  work  and  is  making  preparations 
for  the  future  role.  The  feeling  which  the  individual  has  of  his 
own  inferiority,  incompetency,  the  realization  of  his  smallness, 
of  his  weakness,  of  his  uncertainty,  thus  becomes  an  appropriate 
working  basis  which,  because  of  the  intrinsically  associated 
feelings  of  pleasure  and  pain,  furnishes  the  inner  impulse  to 
advance  towards  an  imaginary  goal.  The  scheme  of  which  the 
child  avails  himself  in  order  to  enable  him  to  act  and  orient 
himself  is  one  common  to  and  in  accordance  with  the  tendency 
of  the  human  understanding  to  reduce  that  which  is  chaotic,  fluid 
and  intangible  in  life  to  measurable  entities  by  means  of  the 
assumption  of  fictions.  We  proceed  in  the  same  way  when  we 
divide  the  globe  by  means  of  meridianal  and  parallel  lines,  for 
thus  only  do  we  preserve  fixed  points  which  we  can  place  in 
relation  with  each  other.  In  all  similar  attempts  (and  the  human 
psyche  is  full  of  them)  it  is  the  question  of  an  introduction  of  an 
unreal  and  abstract  scheme  into  actual  life,  and  I  consider  the 
presentation  of  this  conception  as  I  have  gathered  it  from  the 
psychological  observation  of  neuroses  and  psychoses  and  which, 
according  to  the  proofs  furnished  by  Vaihinger,  manifests  itself 
in  all  scientific  concepts,  to  be  the  main  object  of  this  book.  No 
matter  from  what  angle  we  observe  the  psychic  development  of 

iS 


PSYCHIC  COMPENSATION  19. 

a  normal  or  neurotic  person  he  is  always  found  ensnared  in  the 
meshes  of  his  particular  fiction  ;  a  fiction  from  which  the  neurotic 
is  unable  to  find  his  way  back  to  reality  and  in  which  he  believes 
while  the  normal  person  utilizes  it  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a 
definite  goal.  However,  that  which  gives  such  irresistible 
impulse  to  the  utilization  of  this  scheme  is  always  the  uncertainty 
in  childhood,  the  great  distance  which  separates  the  child  from 
the  potency  of  man,  from  the  distinctions  and  privileges  of  man- 
hood, forebodings  and  knowledge  of  which  the  child  possesses. 
And  in  regard  to  this  point  I  beg  leave  to  supplement  these 
statements  of  the  learned  writer,  Vaihinger,  namely,  that  the 
thing  which  impels  us  all  and  especially  the  neurotic  and  the 
child  to  abandon  the  direct  path  of  induction  and  deduction  and 
to  use  such  devices  as  the  schematic  fiction  originates  in  the 
feeling  of  uncertainty  and  is  the  craving  for  security,  the  final 
purpose  of  which  is  to  escape  from  the  feeling  of  inferiority  in 
order  to  ascend  to  the  full  height  of  the  ego-consciousness,  to 
complete  manliness,  to  attain  the  ideal  of  being  "  above."  The 
greater  the  distance  to  this  ideal,  the  more  distinctly  the  guiding 
fiction  asserts  itself  so  that  the  feeling  of  being  "  under  "  may 
be  just  as  much  a  determining  factor  as  the  deification  of  the 
father  and  mother  who  are  the  ideals  of  strength. 

We  thus  see  exertions  put  forth  far  beyond  those  which  we 
would  expect  in  the  most  violent  bodily  performances  which 
might  arise  from  instincts,  or  in  the  strongest  desire  for 
gratification  of  organic  longings.  Goethe  among  others  also 
refers  to  this  fact  that  while  perception  is  connected  with  the 
practical  satisfaction  of  necessities,  yet  man  carries  on  a  life 
beyond  this  in  feeling  and  imagination.  In  this  thought  the 
compulsion  to  the  elevation  of  the  ego-consciousness  is  aptly 
expressed,  as  well  as  in  a  passage  occurring  in  one  of  Goethe's 
letters  to  Lavater  in  which  he  says,  "  This  longing  to  elevate  as 
high  as  possible  the  apex  of  the  pyramid  of  my  existence,  the 
base  of  which  is  placed  in  my  possession,  outweighs  all  else  and 
is  scarcely  a  moment  absent  from  thought." 

It  can  readily  be  understood  how  such  a  tense  psychic  situation 
— and  every  artist,  every  genius,  fights  the  same  battle  against 
the  feeling  of  uncertainty  ;  with  him,  however,  it  is  the  valuable 
cultural  medium  of  his  art — which  is  capable  of  reenforcing  and 
bringing  to  light  a  host  of  traits  of  character  which  help  to 
construct  the  neuroses.  Thus,  first  of  all,  ambition.  This  is  the 
strongest  of  the  secondary  guiding  principles  which  strive 
towards  the  imaginary  goal.  And  it  generates  a  number  of 
psychic  predispositions  whose  purpose  it  is  to  secure  to  the 
neurotic  superiority  in  all  situations  of  life,  but  which  on  the  other 
hand  makes  his  aggressiveness,  his  affectivity,  appear  to  be  in  a 
state  of  constant  irritation.  Thus  the  neurotic  individual  seems- 


20  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

always  to  be  proud,  dogmatic,  envious  and  miserly,  seeks  always 
to  make  an  impression,  wishes  to  be  first,  but  always  trembles  for 
the  result  and  gladly  postpones  decisions.  Hence  the  hesitating, 
cautious  behavior  of  neurotics,  their  mistrust,  vacillation  and 
•doubt.  As  if  for  practice  in  the  sense  of  a  preliminary  process 
he  carries  on  these  psychic  preparations  in  small  things  in  order 
io  attain  to  fixed  points  and  safeguarding  directing  principles  for 
greater  aims  which  hold  him  under  their  charm.  This  is  also  the 
meaning  of  Freud's  displacement  mechanism,  i.e.,  the  patient  is 
impelled  by  his  craving  for  security  to  collect  proof 
experimentally,  in  corpore  vili,  which  justifies  and  will  continue 
to  justify  his  entire  psychic  attitude.  As  a  rule  the  result  is  always 
the  thought,  "  I  must  be  cautious,  if  I  wish  to  attain  my  goal." 
And  not  infrequently  the  patient  commits  audaciously 
reckless  acts  in  order  to  assure  himself  through  an  emphasis  of 
the  lesson  of  his  recklessness  the  attainment  of  his  main  point, 
namely,  the  masculine  ideal.  Often  hallucinations  and  dreams 
assume  with  neurotics  and  psychotics  the  function  of  these 
warning  voices  and  depict  how  it  has  already  been  once  before, 
how  it  has  been  with  others,  or  how  the  thing  might  turn  out, 
in  order  to  hold  the  patient  to  the  guiding  principle  in  which  he 
finds  security. 

At  other  times  the  strongly  emphasized  traits  of  eagerness  for 
strife,  obstinacy  and  activity,  which  are  to  "  elevate  "  the  apex 
of  the  pyramid  as  far  as  possible  are  strongly  accentuated  by 
pedantry  which  strives  to  keep  them  from  changing  their 
direction.  That  the  eagerness  for  knowledge,  as  a  mighty 
promoter  towards  attaining  the  high  goal,  is  greatly  overstrained, 
is  not  astonishing.  With  equal  distinctness  impatience,  fear  of 
being  too  late,  fear  of  attaining  nothing,  manifest  themselves  as 
a  particularly  strong  impulse  to  neglect  no  means,  to  do  rather 
too  much  than  not  enough  towards  the  attainment  of  the  goal. 
These  traits  always  lie  within  the  field  of  the  developed  neurosis, 
where  the  feeling  of  ' '  craving  for  security  ' '  obtrudes  itself  more 
and  drives  to  the  dangerous  expedients  by  means  of  which  the 
feeling  of  inferiority  is  rendered  more  profound,  and  the  patient 
acts  as  if  he  were  restrained,  cut  off  from  success  and  without 
hope,  or  he  plunges  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  into  passivity, 
displays  effeminate  traits,  conducts  himself  in  a  masochistic  or 
perverse  manner  and  finally  greatly  reduces  his  sphere  of  activity 
so  that  it  is  more  shaken  and  more  strongly  dominated  by  the 
symptoms  of  the  disease.  In  a  similar  manner  arises  the  arrange- 
ment of  indolence,  laziness,  fatigue,  impotence  of  every  sort 
which  furnish  a  pretext  to  escape  from  decisions  which  could 
affect  the  pride  of  the  neurotic,  an  excuse  for  withdrawing  from 
study,  from  a  vocation,  from  marriage.  At  times  this  develop- 


PSYCHIC  COMPENSATION  21 

mental  phase  terminates  in  suicide  which  is  then  always  felt  as  a 
successful  revenge  on  fate  or  on  his  relatives. 

Consciousness  of  guilt  also  asserts  itself.  Here  we  find  one  of 
the  most  difficult  points  in  the  analysis  of  neuroses  and  psychoses. 
Consciousness  of  guilt  and  conscience  are  fictitious  guiding 
principles  of  caution,  like  religiosity  and  subserve  the  craving  for 
security.1  Their  object  is  to  prevent  a  lowering  of  the  ego- 
consciousness  when  the  irritated  aggressiveness  impels 
immoderately  to  selfish  deeds.  In  the  consciousness  of  guilt  the 
glance  is  directed  backwards,  conscience  operates  through  fore- 
sight. The  love  of  truth,  too,  is  sustained  by  the  craving  for 
security  and  belongs  really  within  the  sphere  of  our  personal 
ideal,  while  the  neurotic  lie  represents  a  feeble  attempt  to- 
preserve  appearances  and  to  effect  compensation. 

All  these  attempts  towards  elevation,  efforts  of  the  "  will  to 
power,"  must  naturally  be  understood  as  a  form  of  the  striving 
towards  masculinity  and  become  identified  with  the  masculine 
protest,  because  this  represents  a  fundamental  form  of  the 
psychical  impulse  to  become  of  value,  in  accordance  with  which 
all  experiences,  perceptions  and  directions  of  will  are  grouped. 
Apperception  is  guided  in  accordance  with  this  most  significant 
scheme,  namely,  the  goal,  especially  in  neurotics,  is  the  erection 
of  the  masculine  protest  against  an  effeminate  self-estimation. 
Thus  are  guided  also  attention,  foresight,  doubt,  as  well  as  all 
traits  of  character  and  other  psychic  and  physical  inclinations, 
but  in  the  highest  degree  and  above  all  the  evaluation  of  all 
experiences  in  line  with  this  masculine  goal,  so  that  all  these 
phenomena  contain  a  dynamic  which  is  betrayed  to  the 
experienced,  and  which  tends  from  that  which  is  below  to  that 
which  is  above,  from  that  which  is  feminine  to  that  which  is 
masculine.  The  creation  of  all  these  lines  of  force,  the  fixation 
of  this  remote  goal,  the  emphasis  and  occasional  protection  of 
inferior  effeminate  traits  for  the  purpose  of  combating  them  more 
forcibly  by  the  masculine  protest  takes  place  by  means  of  the 
same  factor  which  also  created  the  organic  compensation,  i.e., 
the  tendency  towards  adjustment  by  constant  attempt  to  supplant 
an  injurious,  inferior  performance  by  an  increase  of  effort  and 
which  in  the  psychic  sphere  finds  expression  in  the  craving  for 
security  which  takes  as  a  guiding  line  (directrix)  the  will  to 
power,  to  be  manly,  in  order  to  escape  the  feeling  of  uncertainty. 

The  greatest  difficulty  which  stands  in  the  way  of  an  under- 
standing of  the  neurosis  arises  from  the  striking  protection 
afforded  these  inferior,  effeminate  traits  and  their  acknow- 
ledgment by  the  patients.  Here  belong  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
disease  generally,  but  also  the  passive,  masochistic  traits,  the 
effeminate  characteristics,  the  passive  homosexuality,  impotence, 

1  See  Fortmuller,  "  Psychoanalysis  and  Ethics,"  Miinchen,  E.  Eeinhardt,  1912. 


22  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

suggestibility,  accessibility  to  and  inclination  for  hypnosis,  or, 
finally,  the  apparent  surrender  to  effeminacy  and  to  effeminate 
behavior.  The  final  object,  however,  always  remains  the  same, 
the  domination  over  others  which  is  felt  and  appreciated  as  a 
masculine  triumph.  Neither  are  the  above  described 
compensatory  features  ever  absent  in  the  makeup  of  these 
patients,  as  they  might  be  expected  to  be  in  individuals  who 
assume  as  a  ground  for  action  a  feeling  of  inadequacy  and  who 
then  strive  to  secure  by  every  possible  means  a  substitute  for 
their  shortcomings,  to  supply  that  which  they  feel  to  be  lacking 
in  their  exaggerated  ego-consciousness.  And  also  in  the  psychic 
situation  the  sexual  element  as  a  symbol  asserts  itself,  inasmuch 
as  such  patients  frequently  form  their  apperceptions  in 
accordance  with  a  scheme  in  which  their  genital  organs  are 
regarded  as  if  they  were  effeminized,  restricted,  castrated,  and 
as  if  they  were  therefore  constantly  forced  to  seek  a  substitute. 
One  form  of  this  substitution  they  find  in  the  depreciation  and 
emasculation  of  all  other  persons.  From  this  tendency  to 
•deprive  others  of  worth  originates  the  considerable  reenforcement 
of  certain  traits  of  character,  which  set  forth  further  inclinations 
and  which  have  the  quality  of  injuring  others,  as  sadism,  hate, 
contentiousness,  intolerance,  envy,  etc.  Active  homosexuality, 
also,  as  well  as  perversions  which  degrade  the  partner,  also 
Lustmord,  arise  from  the  neurotic  tendency  to  depreciate,  a 
tendency  which  can  hardly  be  pictured  too  strongly.  They  all 
represent  a  rationalization  of  the  symbolism  of  subjection  in  line 
with  the  concept  which  asserts  the  "  sexual  dominance  of  the 
male."  In  short,  the  neurotic  may  also  elevate  the  feeling  of 
his  own  worth  by  degrading  others. 

We  have  mentioned  above  the  protection  of  the  effeminate 
traits  in  the  neurosis  for  the  purpose  of  better  carrying  on  the 
combat,  for  the  purpose  of  a  better  surveillance  over  self.  These 
accentuations  along  with  the  distinct  tendency  to  give  preference 
to  the  will  to  masculinity  create  the  appearance  of  a  rent  in  the 
psyche  of  the  neurotic  which  is  familiar  to  writers  as  double 
personality,  dissociation,  and  which  is  frequently  seen  in  the 
changing  humors  of  neurotics,  but  also  in  the  succession  of 
depression  and  mania,  of  ideas  of  persecution  and  grandeur  in 
the  psychoses.  I  have  always  found  as  an  internal  connecting 
bond  in  these  antithetical  conditions  the  tendency  to  maximate 
the  ego-consciousness,  whereby  the  "  inferior  "  situation  is 
associated  with  a  degradation,  but  is  circumscribed  and  arranged 
as  a  ground  for  operation.  It  is  then  that  the  masculine  protest 
asserts  itself,  which  is  often  carried  to  the  length  of  asserting  a 
resemblance  to  God  or  an  intimate  connection  with  Him.  For 
the  "  splitting  of  consciousness  "  the  severely  schematic  and 
"very  abstract  process  of  apperception  is  also  responsible,  a  form 


PSYCHIC  COMPENSATION  23 

of  apperception  which  groups  the  internal  and  external 
experiences  according  to  a  scheme  which  has  the  form  of  an 
absolute  antithesis,  something  like  the  debits  and  credits  in 
book-keeping,  where  there  are  no  transitions  possible.  This  fault 
of  the  neurotic  mode  of  thinking,  which  is  identical  with  a  too 
far-fetched  abstraction,  is  likewise  caused  by  his  craving  for 
security,  a  tendency  which  requires  for  the  purpose  of  making 
decisions,  for  anticipations  and  actions,  sharply  defined  guiding 
lines,  idols,  false  deities  in  which  the  neurotic  believes.  In  this 
way  he  becomes  estranged  from  concrete  reality.  For  to  find 
one's  bearings  in  the  world  of  reality  an  elasticity  of  the  psyche 
and  not  a  rigidity  is  required,  a  utilization  of  abstraction,  but 
not  an  adoration,  an  idolizing  of  the  same  as  the  final  purpose  of 
existence. 

Accordingly  we  shall  find  in  the  mental  life  of  the  neurotic, 
just  as  is  the  case  in  primitive  poetry,  in  mythology,  in  legends, 
in  cosmogony,  in  theogony  and  in  the  beginnings  of  philosophy 
a  most  pronounced  tendency  to  give  a  symbolic  style  to  himself, 
his  experiences  and  to  persons  about  him.  Thus  naturally  the 
phenomena  which  do  not  belong  together  must  be  sharply 
separated  from  each  other  by  an  abstracting  fiction.  The  impulse 
to  this  expedient  arises  from  the  longing  for  an  orientation  "and 
has  its  roots  in  the  neurotic's  craving  for  security.  This  impulse 
is  often  so  intense  that  it  demands  the  splitting  of  unity,  of  the 
category,  of  the  unity  of  the  ego  into  two  or  more  of  its 
antithetical  parts. 

From  the  above  described  self-estimation  of  the  child,  who  is 
induced  by  inferiority  of  constitution  and  the  evils  arising  there- 
from to  strive  after  special  securities,  up  to  the  complete  develop- 
ment of  the  neurotic  technique  of  thinking  and  its  coadjuvant 
lines,  of  the  neurotic  character,  a  host  of  psychic  phenomena 
make  their  appearance  which  according  to  Karl  Groos"  may  be 
regarded  as  a  training,  according  to  our  interpretation  as  a 
preparation  for  the  imaginary  goal.  They  are  manifested  at  an 
early  age,  are  indicated  even  in  early  infancy  and  are  constantly 
at  the  foundation  of  the  influences  of  conscious  and  unconscious 
education.  The  whole  development  of  the  child  shows  that  it 
proceeds  in  the  direction  of  an  idea,  which  naturally  takes  a 
primitive  form  and  quite  regularly  seeks  concrete  embodiment 
in  the  form  of  a  person.  Under  this  compulsion,  the  psychic 
mechanism  of  which  is  for  the  most  part  unconscious  and  only 
partly  conscious,  the  psyche  in  the  process  of  formation  comes 
to  more  distinct  expression,  and  the  mental  as  well  as  the 
physical  life  of  a  human  being  taken  at  any  given  point  of  its 
development  is  to  be  understood  as  the  answer  which  that 
individual  gives  to  the  question  of  life. 

*  See  Karl  Groos,  "  Die  Spiele  der  Menschen,  Die  Spiele  der  Thiere." 


24  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

This  answer,  in  reality  the  manner  in  which  life  is  accepted, 
is  according  to  all  the  knowledge  thereof  furnished  by  experience, 
to  be  considered  as  identical  with  the  effort  to  put  an  end  fo 
uncertainty,  to  the  chaos  which  prevails  in  impressions  and 
feelings,  with  the  effort  to  obtain  a  firm  hold  in  order  to  overcome 
the  difficulties  of  life.  Reflection,  observation,  thought  and  fore- 
thought, attention,  calculation  and  valuation  are  all  efforts  put 
forth  by  this  craving  for  security.  And  inasmuch  as  the  realization 
of  one's  own  inferiority  is  taken  as  an  abstract  standard  for 
inequality  among  human  beings,  the  greater,  the  stronger  and 
his  measure  are  taken  for  the  fictitious  goal  so  that  it  may  be  a 
guarantee  against  this  uncertainty  and  fright.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
soul  of  the  child  constructs  a  guiding  line  which  impels  towards 
an  elevation  of  the  ego-consciousness  in  order  to  escape  from 
uncertainty,  the  influence  of  which  is  still  stronger  in  neurotics 
who  have  felt  their  inferiority  more  keenly.  Mythographers,  the 
human  race,  poets,  philosophers,  founders  of  religions  have 
taken  the  material  from  their  contemporaneous  periods  for  the 
transformation  of  the  guiding  lines  so  that  immortality,  virtue, 
piety,  riches,  knowledge,  social  consciousness  of  the  upper 
classes  or  self-perfection  were  available  as  goals  and  were  utilized 
according  to  the  receptive  peculiarities  of  the  individual  who 
longed  for  perfection.  At  this  point  the  living  energies  of  the 
child  become  transferred  into  the  self-created  sphere  of  his 
subjective  world  which  henceforth  as  a  guiding  fiction  transmutes, 
falsifies  and  changes  the  values  of  all  feelings  and  emotions, 
pleasures  and  pains,  even  the  struggle  for  self-preservation,  for 
his  benefit,  in  order  to  attain  the  goal ;  a  transformation  which 
utilizes  all  the  experiences  of  the  neurotic  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bring  about  preparations  which  will  ensure  the  triumph. 

These  preparatory  acts  with  their  tendency  to  change  values 
may  be  most  clearly  observed  in  the  play  of  nervous  children, 
in  their  deliberations  over  the  choice  of  a  future  vocation  and 
their  physical  and  psychical  attitudes.  These  phenomena  will  be 
further  discussed  in  connection  with  the  dominating  craving  for 
security  which  controls  them.  Concerning  the  nervous  habitus 
it  may  be  stated  that  as  a  rule  it  is  noticeable  at  an  early  age, 
that  it  takes  the  form  of  a  pantomimic  representation  of  some 
trait  of  character,  either  as  an  anxious,  waiting,  distrustful, 
uncertain,  cautious,  bashful  attitude  or  as  a  hostile,  obstinate, 
self-certain,  self-complacent,  forward  attitude.  Blushing  is 
noticeable  or  the  glance  is  peculiarly  fixed,  cast  down  or  hostile. 
It  is  easy  to  correlate  one  of  these  attitudes  or  gestures,  or  a 
mimic  trait,  with  the  prototype.  In  nervous  children  imitation 
of  the  male  principle,  the, father,  is  often  found  ;  the  mother  only 
becomes  a  model  for  imitation  after  a  formal  change  in  the 
guiding  principle  has  taken  place,  or  when  from  the  beginning 


PSYCHIC  COMPENSATION  25 

the  moral  superiority  of  the  mother  is  beyond  question.  Usually 
these  phenomena  are  insignificant  and  such  as  are  not  as  a  rule 
subjected  to  the  observation  of  the  physician.  Crossing  the  legs, 
the  arms,  a  peculiar  manner  of  gait,  preference  for  certain  foods, 
borrowing  of  certain  traits  of  character,  etc.,  or  in  the  presence 
of  more  strongly  emphasized  obstinacy  opposite  forms  of 
expression.  The  retained  bad  habits  of  childhood,  such  as 
eneuresis,  biting  the  nails,  sucking,  stuttering,  winking  the  eyes, 
masturbation,  etc.,  can  always  be  traced  to  these  beginnings  of 
obstinacy.  They  are  the  expedients  of  the  weak  to  diminish  the 
pathos  of  the  distance  and  thereby  do  away  with  the  feeling  of 
inferiority,  and  strive  in  the  last  analysis  to  a  transformation  ot 
authority  and  at  the  same  time  to  gain  an  excuse  for  avoiding  a 
decision,  for  postponing  it. 

All  considerable  phenomena  of  this  sort  are  themselves 
neurotic  traits  of  character  or  show  that  they  are  permeated  by 
the  neurotic  character  and  like  it  itself  are  a  form  of  expression 
of  the  craving  for  security,  preparatory  processes  and  preliminary 
provisions  of  the  compensatory  force  which  is  produced  by  the 
feeling  of  inferiority. 


D 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  AS  THE  GUIDING  IDEA  IN 
THE  NEUROSIS 

The  most  important  task  of  thinking  is  to  anticipate  actions  or 
events  ;  to  seize  upon  an  objective  and  ways  and  means  and  to 
influence  them  as  far  as  possible.  By  means  of  this  process  of 
forethought,  our  influence  over  space  and  time  is  assured  to  a 
certain  degree.  Accordingly  our  psyche  is  first  of  all  an  organ 
of  aggression  born  out  of  the  distress  of  the  too  restricted 
limitation  which  from  the  first  renders  difficult  the  gratification 
of  natural  appetites.  This  organically  determined  goal  of 
gratification  of  appetites  will  only  endure  so  long  as  the  suitable 
means  are  at  hand  for  its  stabilization  ;  for  rendering  it  secure 
against  the  strongest  attacks.  Toward  the  end  of  the  nursing 
period,  when  the  child  acquires  ability  to  carry  out  independent, 
purposeful  actions  which  are  not  merely  directed  toward  the 
gratification  of  appetite,  when  he  takes  his  place  in  the  family 
and  begins  to  adapt  himself  to  his  environment,  he  already 
possesses  abilities,  psychic  gestures  and  preparations.  Besides 
this  his  conduct  has  acquired  a  certain  uniformity  and  is  seen  to 
be  on  the  road  toward  acquiring  his  place  in  the  world.  Such  a 
uniformity  of  conduct  can  only  be  comprehended  by  the 
assumption  that  the  child  has  discovered  some  specific  fixed 
point  outside  of  his  own  personality  towards  which  he  strives 
with  his  developmental  energies.  The  child  must,  therefore, 
have  constructed  for  himself  a  guiding  principle,  a  guiding  model, 
obviously  in  the  hope  of  thus  orienting  himself  in  the  best 
possible  manner  in  his  environment  and  of  obtaining  gratification 
of  his  necessities  of  avoiding  pain  and  of  obtaining  pleasure.1 
From  this  guiding  ideal  arises  the  very  beginning  of  the  child's 
craving  for  tenderness,  that  quality  which  (Paulsen)  originally 
determines  the  tractability  of  the  child.  Soon  there  become 
associated  with  this  first  quality,  efforts  to  gain  the  praise,  help 
and  love  of  the  parents,  stirrings  of  independence,  of  obstinacy 
and  of  opposition.  The  child  has  found  a  meaning  in  life 
towards  which  he  strives  and  whose  still  indistinct  outlines  he  is 
forming,  and  starting  from  which  he  derives  that  quality  of 
prevision  which  is  calculated  to  direct  and  give  worth  to  his 
actions  and  impulses.  It  is  the  child's  helplessness,  clumsiness 
and  uncertainty  which  necessitates  the  establishment  of  the 

1  Adler,  "  Trotz  und  Gehorsamkeit."  * 

26 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  27 

tentative  tests  of  possibility,  the  acquisition  of  experience,  the 
creation  of  memories  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  bridge 
leading  to  that  future  where  there  are  to  be  found  greatness, 
power  and  satisfaction  of  all  sorts.  The  construction  of  this 
bridge  is  the  most  important  work  the  child  is  called  upon  to 
perform  because  without  it  he  would  find  himself  in  the  midst  of 
the  inpouring  impressions  without  order,  without  counsel,  with- 
out guide.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  define  the  limits  of  this  first 
stadium,  of  this  awakening  subjective  world,  to  describe  it  in 
words.  But  it  may,  however,  be  said  that  the  guiding  model  of 
the  child  must  be  so  constructed  as  if  it  were  able  to  bring  to  the 
child  greater  certainty  and  orientation  by  influencing  the  direction 
of  his  will. 

But  he  can  only  obtain  security  by  striving  towards  a  fixed 
point  where  he  sees  himself  greater  and  stronger,  where  he  finds 
himself  rid  of  the  helplessness  of  infancy.  The  symbolic  and 
logical  nature  of  our  process  of  thinking  permits  the  construction 
of  this  future  changed  personality  in  the  image  of  the  father,  the 
mother,,  of  an  elder  brother  or  sister,  or  teacher  or  some^ 
professional  man,  or  hero,  or  animal,  or  God.  The  qualities  of 
greatness,  power,  knowledge  and  ability  are  features  common 
to  all  these  guiding  images  and  thus  they  are  one  and  all  symbols 
for  imaginative  abstractions.  And  thus  like  idols  made  of  clay 
they  receive  from  the  imagination  of  man,  force  and  life,  and 
react  upon  the  psyche  which  has  created  them. 

This  artifice  of  thinking  would  have  the  stamp  of  paranoia  and 
of  dementia  precox  conditions,  which  create  for  themselves 
hostile  forces  for  the  purpose  of  securing  ego-consciousness,  were 
not  the  child  able  at  all  times  to  free  himself  from  the  bonds  of  his 
fiction,  to  eliminate  his  projections  (Kant)  from  his  calculations, 
and  to  make  use  only  of  the  impetus  which  is  given  him  by  this 
guiding  line.  His  uncertainty  is  sufficient  to  make  him  set  up  a 
fantastic  goal  for  the  purpose  of  orientation  in  the  world,  but  it 
is  not  so  great  as  to  make  him  deprive  reality  of  its  value  and  to 
assert  dogmatically  the  reality  of  this  guiding  model,  as  is  the 
case  in  the  psychoses.  One  must,  however,  call  attention  to  the 
similarity,  the  significance  of  this  uncertainty  and  the  device  of 
a  fiction  in  normal  persons,  neurotics  and  the  insane. 

The  part  of  this  process  which  is  common  to  all  humanity, 
normal  and  abnormal,  is  that  the  apperceiving  memory  is  under 
the  sway  of  the  guiding  fiction.  It  is  because  of  this  that  there 
exists  within  certain  limits  in  all  mankind  a  uniformity  concern- 
ing a  cosmic  conception.  The  child  in  its  insignificance  and 
helplessness  will  constantly  strive  to  enlarge  his  field  of  power 
and  will  mark  this  field  off  after  the  pattern  of  that  which  seems 
to  possess  the  greatest  strength.  And  now  it  becomes  evident  in 
the  course  of  psychic  development  that  that  which  was  at  first 


28  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

only  an  imaginary  expedient,  important  only  in  its  relations,  only 
a  means  for  gaining  ground  to  stand  upon,  for  finding  one's 
bearings,  for  gaining  a  foothold,  has  become  a  goal  in  itself, 
obviously  because  the  child  can  only  in  this  way  obtain  self- 
assurance  in  acting  and  not  directly  through  the  gratification  of 
desires/ 

Thus  the  effective  point  is  found  outside  the  corporeal  sphere 
according  to  which  the  psyche  adjusts  itself,  a  point  which  forms 
the  centre  of  gravity  of  human  thought,  feeling  and  volition.  And 
the  mechanism  of  apperceiving  memory  with  its  host  of 
experiences,  transforms  itself  from  an  objectively  operating 
system  into  a  subjectively  active,  fictitiously  modified  scheme  of 
an  imagined  future  personality.  It  becomes  the  task  of  this 
scheme  to  bring  about  such  connections  with  the  outside  world 
as  will  serve  to  maximate  his  feeling  of  ego-consciousness,  such 
associations  as  will  hint  at  the  preparing  activities  and  thought 
indicators  and  bring  these  in  contact  with  the  already  existing 
state  of  preparedness.  One  is  here  reminded  of  the  apt 
expression  of  Charcot  who  has  emphasized  for  science  that  "  one 
only  discovers  that  which  one  knows,"  an  observation  which 
when  directed  to  practical  experience  tends  to  show  that  our 
whole  sphere  of  perception  is  limited  by  a  number  of  pre- 
determined psychical  mechanisms  and  predispositions  as  Kant's 
theory  *  of  "a  priori  "  forms  of  perception  teaches  us.  In  a 
similar  manner  our  actions  are  determined  by  the  content  of 
experiences,  which  are  given  birth  to.  and  are  determined  by  the 
guiding  fiction.  Even  our  judgments  concerning  the  value  of 
things  are  determined  according  to  the  standard  of  the  imaginary 
goal,  not  according  to  "real"  feelings  or  pleasurable  sensations. 

And  conduct  follows  as  James  expresses  it  in  consequence  of 
a  sort  of  approbation — depends  as  it  were  on  a  fiat,  command  or 
acquiescence.  The  guiding  fiction  is  therefore  first  of  all  the 
expedient,  the  device  by  means  of  which  the  child  seeks  to  free 
himself  from  his  feeling  of  inferiority.  It  initiates  compensation 
and  stands  at  the  service  of  the  craving  for  security.  The  greater 
the  feeling  of  inferiority,  the  more  imperative  and  stronger  will 
be  the  necessity  for  a  steadying,  guiding  principle  and  indeed  the 
more  distinctly  it  manifests  itself,  and  like  compensation  in  the 
organic  sphere,  the  effectiveness  of  psychic  compensation  is 
linked  with  a  functional  increase  and  brings  about  novel  and 
many-sided  manifestations  in  the  mental  life.  One  of  the  forms 
of  expression  of  this  compensatory  mechanism,  intended  to  assure 

3  As  may  be  seen  from  Karl  Groos'  "  Play  of  Animals  "  the  understanding 
of  the  animal  psyche  is  likewise  based  upon  the  fact  that  we  see.  it  act  as 
though  it  were  following  the  direction  of  a  fictitious  guiding  line. 

s  I  have  to  call  attention  here  to  Bergson's  fundamental  teachings,  without 
being  able  to  give  room  here  for  his  important  view-point;*. 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  29 

the  sense  of  ego-consciousness  is  exemplified  by  the  neurosis  and 
psychosis. 

The  constitutionally  inferior  child  with  his  host  of  dis- 
advantages and  uncertainties  will  construct  his  goal  in  a  more 
definite  and  clearer  manner,  will  outline  more  distinctly  the 
guiding  principle  and  will  adhere  to  it  more  anxiously  or 
dogmatically.  In  fact  the  principal  impression  which  one  gains 
from  the  observation  of  a  neurotically  disposed  child  is  usually 
that  the  child  is  guided  in  the  choice  of  a  weapon  by  his  somatic 
inferiority  which  he  utilizes  in  his  dealings  with  his  relatives  or 
which  he  emphasizes  in  his  obstinacy. 

Often  his  illness  is  borrowed  from  his  environment  either  by 
simulation  or  exaggeration  of  actual  ailments,  all  this  in^order  to 
strengthen  his  position.  Should  such  means  not  have  the  desired 
effect  upon  his  environment,  the  child  endeavors  to  rid  himself  of 
his  complaints  through  the  exercise  of  superior  efforts,  as  result 
of  which  there  develop  not  infrequently  qualified  and  artistic 
performances  in  the  event  of  the  experiencing  of  an  over- 
compensation  on  the  part  of  the  functional  anomalies  of  the  eye,  * 
ear,  speech  or  musculature.  Associated  with  this  are  also  stirrings 
of  independence.  Or  the  remedy  is  sought,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
a  greater  dependence,  for  the  attainment  of  which,  anxiety,  a 
feeling  of  insignificance,  weakness,  awkwardness,  incapacity, 
sense  of  guilt  and  remorse  serve  as  strongholds.  The  same 
tendency  may  be  seen  in  the  adherence  to  the  bad  habits  of 
childhood,  in  the  retention  of  a  psychic  infantilism  in  so  far  as 
this  is  not  exclusively  or  partially  the  result  of  obstinacy,  of  the 
infantile  negativism. 

A  number  of  the  complaints  of  psychopathic  children  are  of  a 
subjective  nature,  and  correspond  to  a  complete  or  partial  error 
of  judgment  as  it  takes  place  in  the  effort  of  children  to  find  a 
reason  for  their  feeling  of  inferiority  and  to  comprehend  it. 
Frequently  these  logical  interpretations  are  already  intermixed 
with  the  compensating  ambition  or  with  the  child's  aggressive- 
ness towards  its  parents.  '  The  fault  lies  with  my  parents,  with 
my  lot,  because  I'm  the  youngest,  because  I  was  born  too  late, 
because  I  am  a  Cinderella,  because  I'm  perhaps  not  the  child  of 
these  parents,  of  this  father,  of  this  mother,  because  I  am  too 
small,  too  weak,  have  too  small  a  head,  am  too  homely,  because 
I  have  an  impediment  of  speech,  a  defect  of  hearing,  am  cross- 
eyed, near-sighted,  because  I  have  imperfect  genitals,  because 
I'm  not  manly,  because  I  am  a  girl,  because  Fm  bad  by  nature, 
dull  and  awkward,  because  I  have  masturbated,  because  I'm  too 
sensuous,  too  covetous  and  naturally  perverted,  because  I  submit 
easily,  am  too  dependent  and  obey,  because  I  cry  easily,  am  easily 
affected,  because  I  am  a  criminal,  a  thief,  an  incendiary,  and 
could  murder  some  one.  My  ancestry,  my  education, 


30  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

circumcision  are  to  blame,  because  I  have  too  long  a  nose,  too 
much  hair,  too  little  hair,  because  I  am  a  cripple."  Thus  and 
similarly  sound  the  child's  attempts  to  unburden  himself  by  blam- 
ing fate  just  as  in  the  Greek  fate  tragedies,  these  are  attempts 
to  preserve  the  ego-consciousness  and  hold  others  responsible 
for  his  inferiority.  These  attempts  are  regularly  met  with  in  the 
psychic  treatment  of  the  neuroses  and  they  can  always  be  referred 
back  to  the  relationship  between  an  existing  feeling  of  inferiority 
and  an  assumed  ideal.  The  significance  and  value  of  these 
thought  processes  which  are  as  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  neurotic 
are  noted  also  in  the  uses  to  which  they  are  put  by  himself,  first 
for  the  stimulation  of  his  efforts  in  the  direction  of  his  ideal 
(grandiose  ideas)  and  second,  the  utilization  of  them  as  a  refuge 
and  excuse  when  forced  to  a  decision  which  threatens  a  lowering 
of  the  ego-consciousness  (depreciatory  ideas).  The  second 
applicability  and  application  naturally  occupies  the  foreground 
in  the  neuroses  because  the  goal  toward  which  the  neurotic 
strives  is  set  too  high  to  be  reached  in  a  direct  line.  The 
utilization  of  this  ideal  is  only  rendered  possible  by  an  admixture 
of  aggression  or  in  blaming  fate  as  well  as  heredity.  By  means 
of  this  the  neurotic  gains  a  permanent  base  of  operation  on  the 
strength  of  which  he  unfolds,  thrusts  forward  and  stabilizes 
certain  traits  of  character  which  serve  the  same  hostile  purpose, 
such  as  obstinacy,  a  dominating,  grumbling  nature,  pedantry, 
because  thereby  he  always  succeeds  in  gaining  mastery  over  his 
environment  principally  by  calling  attention  to  his  terrible 
suffering.  All  of  these  traits  and  predispositions  associated 
with  bad  habits  retained  from  childhood  which  have  become 
markedly  exaggerated,  as  well  as  with  disease  symptoms  of  a 
self-created  and  self-modeled  nature  stand  in  the  closest  inter- 
relation, are  inseparable  one  from  another  and  show  their 
dependence  on  a  factor  outside  their  own  sphere,  i.e.,  they 
depend  upon  the  guiding  fiction  which  has  evolved  from  the 
craving  for  security  or  from  the  longing  for  the  maximation  of 
the  ego-consciousness.  In  the  imaginary  basis  of  this  feeling 
of  inferiority  which  because  of  the  craving  for  security  is  always 
thought  of  in  an  exaggerated  manner  and  felt  too  keenly,  I  see 
the  chief  therapeutic  hope.  The  question  whether  the  feeling 
of  uncertainty  is  conscious  or  unconscious  is  of  secondary 
importance.  At  times  pride  carries  things  so  far  that  "memory 
gives  way"  (Nietzsche).  Naturally  the  above  described 
connection  is  not  realized  by  the  patient.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  he  remains  the  plaything  of  his  emotions  and  affects  until 
such  time  as  the  mechanism  becomes  revealed  to  him  and  set 
to  rights,  until  such  time  as  the  predispositions  and  neurotic 
plan  of  life  are  shattered  ;  a  plaything  of  emotions  and  effects 
the  interaction  of  which  becomes  further  complicated  because  of 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  31 

a  constant  admixture  of  traits  of  character  intended  to  negate  his 
sense  of  inferiority,  such  as  pride,  envy,  greed,  cruelty,  courage, 
revengefulness,  irritability,  etc.,  traits  of  character  which  are 
constantly  being  excited  through  his  craving  for  security. 

The  tendency  to  exaggerate  and  emphasize  existing  defects 
plays  an  important  role  in  the  psychology  of  the  neuroses.  An 
appearance  of  weakness,  suffering,  incapacity  and  uselessness 
results  from  this  manner  of  presenting  actual  defects  because 
the  neurotic  is  compelled  by  the  mechanism  which  controls  him 
to  conduct  himself  unwaveringly  in  such  a  manner  as  to  feel 
as  though  he  were  sick,  as  though  he  were  effeminate,  inferior, 
neglected,  injured,  sexually  over-excited,  impotent  or  perverted. 
The  cautious  approach  to  problems  of  life  which  constantly 
accompanies  these  impulses,  the  exaggerated  striving  upwards, 
the  desire  to  play  the  role  of  man  in  some  way  or  other,  to  be 
superior  to  everybody  else,  the  neurotic's  stronghold  with  its 
prime  object  of  avoiding  decisions  and  setbacks  and  thus  to 
escape  a  lowering  of  his  ego-consciousness,  all  of  this  reveals^ 
to  us  the  true  state  of  affairs,  namely,  that  the  low  self-estimation 
of  the  neurotic  is  in  itself  an  expedient  by  means  of  which  he 
strives  the  more  powerfully  to  attain  that  guiding  goal  which 
will  bring  about  a  maximation  of  his  ego-consciousness.  He  may 
conduct  himself  according  to  the  motto  "  half  and  half,"  he 
may  cede  certain  strongholds  in  the  contest,  but  he  does  so 
solely  in  order  to  fortify  himself  against  an  ultimate  feeling  of 
inferiority  and  in  order  to  be  the  better  able  to  utilize  others 
in  his  service. 

The  sexual  feature  of  the  psychology  of  the  neuroses  which 
Freud  looks  upon  as  a  cardinal  point  is  in  this  wise  explained 
as  the  effect  of  a  fiction.  There  is  no  objective  standard  of  the 
"  libido. Tl  The  exaltation  and  diminution  of  the  same  is  always 
in  accord  with  the  imaginary  goal.  It  is  easy  for  the  neurotic 
to  convince  himself  that  he  is  the  subject  of  a  high  sexual 
tension  by  means  of  a  more  or  less  purposeful  arrangement, 
and  especially  by  means  of  a  concentration  of  the  attention  in 
this  direction  the  moment  he  begins  to  seek  proof  of  how  much 
injury  sexualfty  works  to  his  feeling  of  security  and  how  much 
his  ego-consciousness  is  threatened  from  this  source.  The 
weakening  of  libidinous  impulses  even  to  the  point  of  psychic 
impotence  is  to  be  regarded  as  purposeful  checks  on  aggression, 
as  disorders  of  natural  predispositions,  as  a  construction  of  an 
"as  if"  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  himself  against  marriage, 
against  a  swerving  from  the  goal,  against  a  degradation  at  the 
hands  of  the  sexual  partner,  against  poverty  or  culpability. 
Repressed  or  conscious  perverse  tendencies,  as  well  as  the 
compulsion  to  masturbation  are  always  looked  upon  as  detours, 
as  symbols  of  an  imaginary  plan  of  life  whose  purpose  is  self- 


32  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

assurance.  They  are  called  into  being  by  the  guiding  fiction  as 
soon  as  the  feeling  of  inferiority  finds  expression  in  the  fear 
of  the  sexual  partner  as  happens  regularly  where  there 
exist  sexual  anomalies.  The  fiction  may  then  also  repress  the 
incentive  to  perversion  into  the  subconscious  or  make  the  fear 
of  the  partner  unrecognizable  to  consciousness  so  that  it  only 
becomes  apparent  from  a  survey  of  the  whole  situation.  It 
resorts  to  the  first  alternative  when  it  depends  on  pride  for  the 
fulfillment  of  its  purpose,  to  the  latter  when  it  makes  a  virtue 
of  the  defect  and  seeks  the  degradation  of  the  partner. 
Incestuous  tendences  too,  to  which  Freud  ascribes  such  an 
important  role  in  the  production  of  neuroses  and  psychoses 
reveal  themselves  in  the  psychology  of  the  neuroses  as 
purposeful  edifices  and  symbols,  which  derive  their  usually 
harmless  material  out  of  childhood  life  with  its  preparatory 
processes.  A  proper  insight  for  instance  into  the  "  CEdipus 
complex  "  shows  us  that  it  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
figurative,  sexually  clothed  conception  of  what  constitutes 
masculine  self-consciousness,  superiority  over  woman,  but  at 
the  same  time  betrays  the  cause  which  leads  to  this  phenomenon, 
namely  as  if  the  mother  were  the  only  one  that  one  could 
subjugate,  on  whom  one  could  depend  or  as  though  sexual  desire 
(already  in  childhood)  were  to  be  carried  through  in  spite  of 
everything  and  always  by  a  struggle  with  stronger  forces  (the 
father,  dragons,  danger  of  death).  As  may  be  inferred  from 
this  interpretation,  close  inquiry  into  the  sexual  neuroses  always 
leads  to  the  discovery  of  a  guiding  fiction  which  reveals  itself  in 
a  sexual  form  or  can  be  revealed  by  therapeutists,  as  well  as  to 
the  laying  bare  of  a  mode  of  apperception  evolved  according  to 
a  sexual  scheme  in  consequence  of  which  the  neurotic  and  often 
also  the  normal  person  attempt  to  apprehend  and  understand 
the  world  and  all  its  phenomena  in  sexual  terms,  in  a  sexual 
picture  as  it  were.  Our  further  investigations  reveal  that  this 
sexual  scheme  which  is  often  carried  out  in  speech,  in  custom, 
and  manners,  is  only  a  variation  of  that  all-embracing  scheme 
of  more  fundamental  origin,  i.e.,  the  antithetical  mode  of 
apperception  as  "  male-female  "  "  up-down."  The  later 
psychic  perverse  tendencies  derive  their  material  and  impulse 
from  the  harmless  bodily  sensations  and  misjudgments  of 
childhood  which  when  occasion  arises  are  given  an  extra- 
ordinarily high  value  or  some  chance  pleasurable  sensations  are 
perceived  as  analogues  of  sexual  sensations.  The  psychologist 

*  See  the  dream  of  Tippias,  Herodotus  VI.,  107;  "  he  dreamt  that  he  was 
sleeping  with  his  mother."  This  he  dreamed  as  he  was  about  to  conquer  his 
maternal  city,  as  he  had  already  done  once  before  as  the  companion  of  his 
father.  Thus  the  CEdipns  complex  as  the  symbol  of  the  desire  to  dominate. 
With  the  Komans  too  Beisehlaf  (sexual  congress)  symbolized  conquest,  victory. 
Compare  the  double  meaning  of  the  word  "  subigere." 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  33 

must  not  assume  the  same  point  of  view,  must  not  maintain  such 
a  mode  of  apperception  as  valid,  not  substitute  real  sexual 
components  for  a  fiction  as  the  patient  does.  His  task  on  the 
contrary  consists  in  revealing  to  the  patient  the  superficiality  of 
his  attempts  at  orientation,  to  tear  it  apart  as  a  mere  product  of 
the  imagination,  and  to  weaken  the  feeling  of  inferiority  which 
drives  the  patient  in  a  convulsive  manner  towards  these  guiding 
principles  which  would  necessitate  the  carrying  'out  of  the 
"  masculine  protest  in  a  circuitous  manner. 

Apperceiving  memory  which  influences  our  cosmic  picture  to 
such  a  great  extent  works  also  with  a  fiction  as  it  were,  with  a 
schematic  fiction,  in  accordance  with  which  we  choose  and  model 
our  perceptions,  our  experiences,  as  well  as  the  training  of  our 
connate  tendencies  and  capacities  until  they  are  changed  into 
the  appropriate  psychical  and  technical  skilfulness  and 
preparedness.  The  modus  operandi  of  our  conscious  and 
unconscious  memory  and  its  individualization  obey  the  personal 
ideal  and  its  standards.  From  this  we  are  able  to  deduce  that  as  • 
a  guiding  fiction  its  purpose  is  to  confront  the  problems  of  life 
so  soon  as  the  feeling  of  inferiority  and  uncertainty  impels 
toward  compensation.  This  fixed  guiding  point  of  our  efforts, 
which  in  no  sense  possesses  reality,  is  absolutely  decisive  for 
the  psychic  development,  for  it  enables  us  to  make  steps  in  the 
chaos  of  the  world,  as  does  the  child  when  learning  to  walk  and 
keeping  in  his  eye  a  goal  which  he  strives  to  reach.  Far  more 
unwaveringly,  the  neurotic  keeps  before  his  eye  his  God,  his 
idol,  his  ideal  of  personality  and  clings  to  his  guiding  principle, 
losing  sight  in  the  meanwhile  of  reality,  whereas  the  normal 
person  is  always  ready  to  dispense  with  this  crutch,  this  aid, 
and  reckon  unhampered  with  reality.  In  this  instance,  the 
neurotic  resembles  a  person  who  looks  up  to  God,  commends 
himself  to  the  Lord  and  then  and  there  awaits  credulously  for 
his  guidance  ;  he  is  nailed  to  the  cross  of  his  fiction.  The 
normal  individual  too  may  and  does  create  his  deity,  feels 
drawn  upward  but  never  loses  sight  of  reality,  and  always  takes 
it  into  account  as  soon  as  he  is  called  upon  to  act.  Accordingly 
the  neurotic  lives  under  the  hypnotic  influence  of  an  imaginary 
plan  of  life. 

That  this  imaginary  mark  of  the  personal  ideal  situated  as  it 
is  beyond  space  and  time  is  never  without  effect,  may  be  seen 
from  the  trends  of  the  attention  ;  interests  and  tendencies  of 
these  individuals,  which  always  lead  to  points  of  view  of  an  a 
•priori  nature.  The  exquisite  purposefulness  of  our  psychic 
processes  and  the  predisposition  determined  thereby  is 
responsible  for  the  fact  that  our  actions  have  definite  beginnings 
and  terminations,  that,  as  Ziehen  emphasizes,  voluntary  and 
involuntary  actions  are  constantly  aimed  at  attaining  a  definite 


34  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

result,  that  we  must  assume  with  Pawlow  a  decided  intelligence 
in  the  functioning  of  the  organs.  All  these  phenomena  are  so 
convincing  that  philosophers  and  psychologists  have  from  the 
earliest  times  taken  as  a  teleologic  dogma  everything  which 
premeditatively  attempted  an  orientation  according  to  an 
assumed  fixed  point  as  the  goal. 

The  concept  of  natural  selection  is  entirely  too  inadequate  to 
explain  results  which  are  able  to  take  on  new  and  changing 
forms  as  occasion  demands.  Experience  compels  us  to  consider 
all  these  phenomena  as  dependent  upon  an  unconsciously  active 
fiction,  the  faint  conscious  irradiations  of  which  furnish  us  goals, 
according  to  which  in  the  last  analysis  our  apperception  of  all 
our  experiences  and  activities  is  shaped.  It  is  less  difficult  to 
prove  the  details  of  this  guiding  fiction,  than  the  fiction  itself, 
than  the  fictitious  goal  itself.  Psychological  research  has  called 
attention  to  various  such  goals.  For  our  purpose  it  will  suffice 
to  consider  critically  just  two  of  these.  Most  authorities  content 
themselves  with  the  view  that  all  human  activity,  all  volition  is 
dominated  by  feelings  of  pleasure  and  pain.  Upon  superficial 
consideration  these  authors  seem  to  be  correct  in  their 
assumptions,  because  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  human  psyche  does 
tend  to  seek  pleasure  and  avoid  pain.  But  the  foundation  of  this 
theory  is  unstable.  There  is  no  standard  for  feelings  of  pleasure, 
indeed  no  standard  for  feeling  at  all.  There  exists  furthermore 
no  perception,  no  action,  the  effect  of  which  may  not  vary  in 
accordance  with  place  and  time,  under  some  circumstances 
causing  pleasure  ;  under  others  pain.  And  even  the  primitive 
sensations  resulting  from  satisfaction  of  organic  desires  have 
their  gradations  and  vary  with  the  degree  of  satiability  and  in 
accordance  with  cultural  guiding  principles,  so  that  for 
satisfaction  in  itself  to  serve  as  the  goal,  it  requires  extreme 
denial,  and  abstinence.  Now  granting  that  satisfaction  has 
actually  been  attained,  does  the  psyche  really  lose  its  directing" 
principle  ?  The  psyche's  iron  necessity  for  orientation  and 
security  requires  for  their  establishment  and  their  functions  a 
more  stable  standpoint  than  the  vacillating  and  uncertain 
principle  of  gratification  of  desire,  and  a  more  stable  point  of 
view  than  the  obiect  of  attaining  gratification.  The  impossibility 
of  orienting  one's  self  and  one's  actions  according  to  such  a 
goal  forces  even  the  child  to  abandon  efforts  in  this  direction. 
Finally  it  is  a  misuse  of  an  abstraction  to  single  out  and 
emphasize  by  means  of  a  petitio  principii,  out  of  the  various 
complex  psychic  activities,  the  quest  of  pleasure,  as  the  motive 
force,  after  every  isolated  impulse  has  already  been  explained — 
as  pleasure  seeking,  as  libidinous.  Shiller  with  a  keenness  of 
vision  trained  in  the  school  of  Kant  saw  much  further  when  he 
made  a  place  in  the  coming  "  philosophy  "  for  the  directing1 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  55 

influence  of  earthly  events,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  consider 
it  (philosophy)  dependent  on  "  hunger  and  love." 

To  ascribe,  however,  the  whole  directing  force  to  sexuality 
as  Freud  does,  or  what  is  for  him  the  same  thing,  to  the  libido, 
to  ascribe  this  whole  influence  to  nothing  but  love  is  a  violation 
of  logical  thinking  itself,  a  fiction  of  a  bad  sort,  which  when 
accepted  as  a  dogma  must  lead  to  great  contradictions  and 
confusion  of  concepts  because  it  contrasts  altogether  too  much 
with  reality. 

The  disapproval  of  the  principle  of  "  self-preservation  "  is 
more  difficult,  especially  as  that  principle  is  supported  on  the 
one  hand  by  arguments  of  a  teleological  significance,  on  the 
other  hand  by  the  import  of  Darwin's  theory  of  natural  selection. 
But  we  see  constantly  that  we  undertake  courses  of  action 
contrary  to  the  principles  of  self-preservation  or  to  the 
preservation  of  the  species,  yes,  that  a  certain  arbitrariness 
(Fres-Meyerhof)  permits  us,  in  regard  to  self-preservation  as 
well  as  in  regard  to  pleasure,  to  raise  or  lower  our  valuations, 
that  we  often  wholly  lose  sight  of  self-preservation  when  pleasure 
or  pain  enter  into  the  question,  and  that  on  the  other  hand  we 
often  sacrifice  pleasure  when  an  injury  is  threatened  to  the  ego. 
In  what  manner  do  these  two  incentives  which  are  certainly  not 
without  influence,  range  themselves  under  the  main  guiding 
principle  which  impels  to  the  elevation  of  the  ego-consciousness  ? 
The  two  points  of  view  correspond  to  two  types  of  individuals 
(to  which  it  is  possible  to  add  still  others)  one  of  which  is  least 
able  to  dispense  with  pleasure  in  his  ego-consciousness,  while 
the  other  places  first  importance  on  the  feeling  of  life,  on  the 
feeling  of  immortality.  Therefore,  there  arise  modified  modes 
of  perception  which  produce  antitheses  in  thought  in  the  sense 
of  "  pleasure — pain  "  or  "  life — death."  The  former  are 
unable  to  deprive  pleasure  of  value,  the  latter  life.  In  the  sense 
of  procreation  which  is  again  thought  of  in  the  manner  of  the 
antithetical  scheme  "  male-female,"  these  two  types  approach 
each  other  and  seek  expression  in  the  direction  of  the  masculine 
protest.  As  far  as  neurotics  are  concerned  the  one  type  has 
always  sought  to  compensate  the  painful  feeling  of  his  somatic 
inferiority,  the  other  type  has  grown  up  in  the  fear  of  death, 
of  dying  early.  Their  view  of  the  world  furnishes  them  only 
fragments,  their  soul  is  partially  color-blind,  but,  notwithstanding 
this,  often  more  keen-sighted  than  the  Daltonists  in  their  under- 
standing of  color. 

We  close  this  critical  observation  with  a  reference  to  the 
absolute  principle  of  the  "  will  to  power  "  a  guiding  fiction 
vrhich  sets  in  more  forcibly  and  earlier,  and  is  precipitated  and 
matured,  in  proportion  to  the  prominence  assumed  by  the 
consciousness  of  inferiority  in  the  physically  inferior  child.  The 


36  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

ideal  of  personal  importance  as  a  point  toward  which  all  efforts 
are  directed  is  created  by  the  craving  for  security  and  contains 
as  imaginary  qualities  all  the  powers  and  natural  gifts  of  which 
the  child  believes  himself  deprived.  This  fiction,  more 
exaggerated  than  under  normal  conditions,  molds  the  mentality, 
the  traits  of  character  and  predispositions  in  its  own  image. 
The  neurotic  apperception  proceeds  according  to  a  figurative 
scheme  containing  sharply  opposed  antitheses,  and  the  grouping 
of  the  impressions  and  emotions  takes  place  according  to 
correspondingly  false  and  imaginary  values. 

It  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  neurotic  fiction,  of  the  exaggerated 
idea  of  personal  worth,  to  reveal  itself  under  two  forms,  some- 
times as  an  "  abstract  mechanism  "  sometimes  as  a  concrete 
picture,  or  as  a  phantasy,  as  an  idea.  In  the  first  case  the 
connection  of  what  is  symbolic  in  the  representation  with  the 
compensated  feeling  of  inferiority  should  not  be  lost  sight  of, 
and  in  the  second  case  one  must  above  all  take  into  consideration 
the  decisive  share  in  the  process  taken  by  the  psychic  dynamic 
which  impels  "  upwards."  In  the  analysis  of  a  psychogenic 
disease  so  long  as  the  guiding  tendency  "  upwards  "  does  not 
reveal  itself,  the  nature  of  the  disease  remains  hidden  to  us,  for 
no  matter  how  valuable  the  insights  of  the  psycho-therapeutists 
have  been,  so  long  as  the  secondary  guiding  principle  of 
attaining  pleasure,  of  affectivity  (Bleuler)  and  those  which 
originate  as  result  of  physical  inferiority  (Adler)  are  not  referred 
back  to  the  ideal  of  personality — our  understanding  remains 
imperfect,  "  there  is  still  unfortunately  lacking  the  psychic 
bond."  It  is  also  not  astonishing  that  in  different  cases  different 
characteristics  are  given  to  this  ideal  of  personality  and  usually 
various  characteristics  at  one  and  the  same  time  as  these  are 
derived  from  various  sorts  of  organ  defects,  usually  from  several 
at  the  same  time.  A  preliminary,  decidedly  incomplete  diagram 
which  would  correspond  more  to  the  "  abstract  psyche  "  of  the 
neurotic  than  to  that  of  the  normal  individual  would  be  the 
following  : 


4  Of  the  later  authors  who  have  especially  emphasized  this  point  of  view,  I 
must  especially  mention  H.   Silberer. 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  37 

In  this  outline  the  most  varied  combinations  must  be  imagined, 
if  it  is  to  serve  its  purpose  as  a  model  for  the  purpose  of 
superficial  orientation.  Instead  of  discussing  these  combinations 
and  the  multitudinous  components  we  will  discuss  some 
distinguishing  phenomena  which  seem  important  for  the  under- 
standing of  the  neuroses  and  the  neurotic  character. 

Each  of  the  abstract  guiding  lines  of  the  neurosis  and  of  its 
underlying  psychic  mechanism  may  become  accessible  to 
consciousness  by  means  of  a  memory-picture  or  may  be  rendered 
accessible  to  it.  This  picture  may  originate  from  the  remnants 
of  a  childhood  experience,  or  it  is  a  product  of  phantasy,  a 
species  of  the  craving  for  security.  It  may  represent  a  symbol, 
a  trade-mark  as  it  were,  for  a  certain  mode  of  reaction,  now 
and  then  reaching  development  or  being  reformed  only  at  a  later 
period  often  when  the  neurosis  is  already  fully  developed.  Being 
obviously  the  effect  of  a  sort  of  economy  of  thought,  which  is 
furnished  by  the  principle  of  least  resistance  (Avenarius),  it  i% 
never  of  consequence  as  far  as  its  content  is  concerned,  but 
only  as  an  abstract  scheme  or  as  the  remnant  of  a  psychic 
experience  in  which  the  will  to  power  once, filled  its  destiny. 
This  schematic  fiction,  no  matter  how  concretely  it  may  manifest 
itself,  is  never  to  be  understood  otherwise  than  in  an  allegorical 
sense.  In  it  is  reflected  an  actual  constituent  part  of  experience 
together  with  a  "  moral  "  both  of  which  are  retained  by 
memory  in  the  interest  of  the  self-assurance  that  is  aimed  at, 
either  as  a  memento,  to  adhere  more  tenaciously  to  the  guiding 
principle  or  as  a  fore-judgment  not  to  abandon  it.  None  of  these 
memory  pictures  has  ever  had  pathogenic  significance,  like  a 
psychic  trauma  for  instance,  and  it  is  only  when  the  neurosis 
supervenes,  when  the  feeling  of  degradation  of  the  ego- 
consciousness  leads  to  the  masculine  protest  and  because  of  this 
to  a  closer  attachment  to  the  already  long  established 
compensatory  guiding  principles  are  these  memory  pictures 
hunted  out  from  material  belonging  to  a  remote  past  and  come 
to  light  because  of  their  usefulness,  partly  in  order  to  make 
possible  the  neurotic's  conduct  and  partly  to  give  it  meaning. 
Here  belong  above  all  pain,  anxiety  and  affect  predispositions 
which  are  based  upon  such  reminiscences  which  may  become 
actualized  in  an  hallucinatory  manner,  and  which  may  be  likened 
to  visual  and  auditory  hallucinations.  Naturally  those 
reminiscences  will  be  typical  which  stand  in  the  closest  possible 
relation  to  the  guiding  principle  because  they  represent  or 
simulate  for  the  neurotic,  clinging  as  he  does  to  the  guiding 
principle,  both  the  greater  and  smaller  detours  of  which  he  has 
to  avail  himself  in  order  to  elevate  his  ego  consciousness.  The 
characteristic  of  the  neurotic  psyche  is  only  its  tenacious 
adherence  to  the  guiding  principle.  It  is  the  contradictions 


38  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

with  reality,  the  conflicts  which  arise  from  them  and  the  urgency 
to  acquire  social  importance  and  power,  which  bring  form  the 
symptoms.  This  is  even  more  obvious  in  such  psychoses  where 
the  guiding  principle  appears  most  subtly.  Misinterpretations 
of  reality  are  undertaken,  and  demonstrations  result,  merely, 
so  to  speak,  for  the  sake  of  proof.  In  both  instances,  the  patient 
behaves  as  though  he  had  the  goal  constantly  before  his  eyes. 
In  the  case  of  the  neuroses  he  exaggerates  and  combats  the  real 
obstacles  to  the  maximation  of  his  ego-consciousness  or  seeks 
to  avoid  them  by  the  construction  of  excuses.  The  psychotic 
individual  clinging  as  he  does  to  his  idea  (fixe  idee)  seeks  to 
ignore  reality  or  to  transform  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it 
correspond  with  his  unreal  standpoint.  Freud,  who  has  done 
so  much  toward  the  discovery  of  symbolism  in  the  neurosis  and 
psychosis,  has  called  attention  to  the  galaxy  of  symbols. 
Unfortunately  he  has  carried  his  investigations  only  to  the  point 
of  discovering  the  actual  or  possible  sexual  formulae  in  these 
symbols,  and  has  not  pursued  their  further  elucidation  into  the 
dynamic  eventuality  of  the  masculine  protest,  of  striving 
"  upward."  Thus  it  happened  that  for  him  the  meaning  of  the 
neurosis  became  exhausted  in  the  conversion  of  libidinous  stimuli 
whereas,  in  reality  that  which  lies  behind  the  symbolism  is 
the  appearance  of  or  the  actual  impulsion  toward  a  maximation 
of  the  masculine  ego-consciousness. 

We  have  described  the  guiding  ideal  of  the  ego  as  a  fiction, 
thus  denying  its  reality,  but  we  must  nevertheless  assert  that 
although  unreal  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  process 
of  life,  and  for  the  psychic  development.  Vaihinger  in  his 
"  Philosophy  of  As  If  "  has  given  a  brilliant  elucidation  of  this 
apparent  contradiction,  and  recognized  the  fiction  as  an 
opposition  to  reality  but  as  indispensable  for  the  development 
of  science.  Reference  to  this  singular  relationship  in  the 
psychology  of  the  neuroses  was  first  made  by  me  and  I  was 
considerably  assisted  and  confirmed  in  my  view  by  Vaihinger 's 
work.  I  am  thus  in  a  position  to  say  something  concerning  the 
fiction  of  ego-consciousness,  and  to  throw  some  light  on  its 
significance  as  well  as  on  its  mode  of  appearance  in  the  psyche. 
It  is  first  of  all  an  abstraction  and  must  in  itself  be  regarded  as 
the  indication  of  an  anticipation.  It  is,  so  to  speak,  the 
marshall's  staff  *  in  the  wallet  of  the  insignificant  soldier,  and 
may  be  looked  upon  as  "  payment  on  account  "  demanded  by 

*  For  the  benefit  of  psychologists  of  a  keener  insight,  I  note  here  that  the 
prevalence  of  examples  which  have  been  taken  from  military  life  have  been 
chosen  by  me  with  an  especial  object  in  view.  In  military  training  the  starting 
point  and  fictive  purpose  are  brought  into  closer  relation,  can  be  more  readily 
noted,  and  every  movement  of  the  training  soldier  becomes  a  dexterity  which 
has  for  its  purpose  the  transformation  of  a  primary  feeling  of  weakness  into  a 
feeling  of  superiority. 


THE  ACCENTUATED   FICTION  39 

the  primitive  feeling  of  uncertainty.  The  construction  of  the 
fiction  takes  place  by  setting  aside  disquieting  inferiorities  and 
burdensome  realities  in  the  idea,  as  always  happens  when  the 
psyche  seeks  certainty  and  escape  from  its  restraint.  The  painful 
uncertainty  is  reduced  to  its  lowest  possible,  albeit  apparently 
casual  amount,  and  this  is  transformed  into  its  very  antithesis 
which  is  in  turn  made  into  the  fictive  goal  of  every  wish-phantasy 
and  desire.  It  is  then  that  this  goal  may  be  made  concrete  for 
the  sake  of  becoming  self-evident.  For  instance,  the  restriction 
of  food  in  childhood  is  felt  as  an  abstract  "  nothing,"  as  want, 
in  contrast  to  this  feeling  the  child  comes  to  long  for  "  all,"  for 
superfluity  until  it  brings  this  goal  much  nearer  to  the  under- 
standing in  the  person  of  the  father,  in  the  form  of  a  traditionally 
rich  person,  of  a  mighty  Kaiser.  The  more  intensely  the 
deprivation  was  felt  the  more  forcible  is  this  imaginary  abstract 
ideal  constructed  and  starting  therefrom  begins  the  formation 
and  classification  of  the  given  psychical  forces  to  preparatory 
attitudes,  facilities  and  traits  of  character.  The  individual  then 
carries  these  traits  of  character  demanded  by  the  fictive  goal  just 
as  the  mask  of  the  ancient  actor — persona — was  required  to 
fit  to  the  denouement  of  the  tragedy.  Should  there  stir  in  a  boy 
doubt  concerning  his  manliness,  as  happens  in  constitutionally 
inferior  children,  feeling  as  they  do  to  be  kindred  to  girls,  he 
chooses  a  goal  of  such  a  nature  as  will  give  him  mastery  over 
women  (usually  also  over  all  men).  Through  this  his  attitude 
toward  women  is  determined  at  an  early  age.  He  will  constantly 
show  a  tendency  to  bring  about  his  superiority  over  women, 
will  undervalue  and  degrade  the  feminine  sex,  will — figuratively 
speaking — raise  the  hand  against  his  mother,  which  in 
neurotically  disposed  children  often  finds  expression  in  a  gesture 
or  in  their  psychic  attitude,  and  will  in  a  playful  manner  take 
his  model  from  the  mother  in  order  to  test  himself  in  the  manly 
role  before  it.  The  development  of  this  sort  of  infantile  attitude 
of  readiness  where  a  rigid  pedantic  behavior  becomes  manifest, 
where  the  child's  excited  desire  for  mastery  seeks  a  confirmation, 
and  an  assurance  of  his  ego-consciousness,  similar  to  the  one 
he  has  experienced  from  his  mother,  that  is,  conditions  in  which 
he  is  able  in  the  same  manner  to  satisfy  his  craving  for  security 
is  already  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  neurotic  trait.  It  is  only  to 
this  neurotic  fixity  of  the  uncertainty  that  Nietzsche's  assertion 
is  applicable,  namely  that  "  every  one  carries  within  him  a 
portrait  of  womankind  which  he  has  derived  from  his  mother, 
and  which  makes  him  honor  woman  or  despise  her  or  entertain  a 
total  indifference  toward  her."  Yet  we  must  concede  that  these 
individuals  are  in  the  majority.  Among  them  are  many  who 
were  disdained  by  their  mother,  since  which  time  they  fear  a 


4o  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

like  setback  from  every  woman,  or  demand  from  her  an  extra- 
ordinary measure  of  surrender. 

In  the  life  and  development  of  man  there  is  nothing  that  set:s 
to  work  with  greater  secrecy  than  the  construction  of  the  ideal 
of  personality.  If  we  inquire  into  the  cause  of  this  secrecyv 
it  seems  that  the  most  important  basis  lies  in  the  combative, 
not  to  say  hostile  character  of  this  fiction.  It  has  originated 
through  a  constant  measuring  and  weighing  of  the  advantages 
of  others  and  must  therefore  bring  about,  according  to  the 
principle  of  antithesis  which  lies  at  the  root  of  this  process,  the 
injury  to  others.  The  psychological  analysis  of  the  neurotic 
shows  always  the  presence  of  the  tendency  to  depreciation,  which 
is  summarily  directed  toward  every  one.  The  combative 
tendencies  '  become  regularly  manifest  in  greed,  in  envy,  in 
longing  for  superiority.  But  the  fiction  of  gaining  the  mastery 
over  others  can  only  be  used,  be  taken  into  account  if  it  does 
not  disturb  the  combination  of  relations  from  the  beginning. 
And  therefore,  this  fiction  must  early  become  unrecognizable, 
must  assume  a  disguise,  or  it  destroys  itself.  This  disguise 
takes  place  by  the  positing  of  an  anti-fiction,  which  first  of  all 
directs  visible  conduct,  and  under  the  stress  of  which  reality  is 
approached,  and  the  recognition  of  its  effective  forces  is 
accomplished.  This  contrary  fiction,  always  of  the  nature  of 
current,  corrective  instances,  brings  about  the  formal  change  of 
the  guiding  fiction  by  pressing  its  own  claim  to  consideration, 
by  presenting  for  recognition  social  and  ethical  demands  at  their 
true  value  and  thus  assuring  the  reasonableness  of  thinking  and 
acting.  It  is  the  security  coefficient  of  the  guiding  line  to  power 
and  the  harmony  of  the  two  fictions,  their  mutual  compatibility 
which  is  the  sign  of  mental  health.  In  the  contrary  fiction  are 
active  experience  and  education,  social  and  cultural  formulas, 
and  the  traditions  of  society.  In  times  of  good  humor,  of 
security,  of  normal  conditions,  of  peace,  this  is  the  prevailing 
form,  which  causes  a  restraint  of  the  combative  predispositions 
and  effects  an  adaptation  of  the  traits  of  character  to  the 
environment.  Should  the  insecurity  increase  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  inferiority  emerge,  then  the  contrary-fiction  is  deprived 
of  value  because  of  an  increasing  abstraction  from  reality,  the 
dexterities  become  mobilized,  the  nervous  dogmatic  character 
asserts  itself  and  with  it  the  exaggerated  sense  of  ego-ideal.  It 
is  one  of  the  triumphs  of  human  wit  to  put  through  the  guiding 
fiction  by  adapting  it  to  the  antifiction,  to  shine  through 
modesty,  to  conquer  by  humility  and  submissiveness,  to  humiliate 
others  by  one's  virtues,  to  attack  others  by  one's  own  passivity, 
to  cause  pain  to  others  by  one's  own  suffering,  to  strive  to  attain 
the  goal  of  manly  force  by  effeminate  means,  to  make  oneself 

7  S.  "  Der  Aggreesionstrieb  im  iJeben  und  in  her  Neurose." 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  41 

small  in  order  to  appear  great.   Of  such  sort,  however,  are  often 
the  expedients  of  neurotics. 

Concerning  the  significance  of  the  most  primitive  perception 
and  emotion  as  an  abstraction  I  need  waste  no  words.  Just  as 
abstract  is  the  positing  of  an  imaginary  guiding  point  and  of 
this  life  plan  which  is  now  spun  out  between  these  two  points. 
With  reference  to  the  neurotic  psyche  we  have  repeatedly 
emphasized  that  it  is  the  greater  insecurity  which  alone  tends 
to  withdraw  the  guiding  point  still  further  from  reality,  to  set 
it  higher.  In  addition  to  this  the  inferior  sense  organs  yield 
qualitatively  and  quantitatively  changed  sensations,  and  the 
organs  of  execution  a  changed  technique  usually  in  the  sense  of 
greater  limitation,  so  that  the  self-esteem,  the  ideal  guiding 
representation,  the  representation  of  the  world  and  the  life  plan 
must  be  formed  differently  from  normal  representations  of  this 
sort,  in  that  they  are  more  abstract,  less  in  conformity  with 
reality.  In  this  process  it  is  true  the  compensation  and  over- 
compensation  may  sometimes  bring  the  conception  of  the  world 
and  the  line  of  reality  nearer  together  as  in  the  great 
performances  of  the  neurotic  psyche.  The  overtense  personal 
ideal,  however,  which  acquires  absolute  rigidity,  which  assumes 
nearly  an  identity  with  God,  often  lends  to  the  nature  and 
behavior  of  the  neurotic  and  psychotic  a  pronounced  hypomanic 
character,  if  the  preparations  therefore,  the  feeling  of 
insignificance,  the  ideas  of  persecution  did  not  counteract  this 
character  by  causing  a  sort  of  inner  certainty  without  which  the 
positing  of  the  goal  would  be  impossible,  by  causing  a  feeling 
of  predestination.  In  the  phases  of  greater  insecurity  this 
characteristic  is  considerably  stronger  and  its  significance  as 
anticipation  of  the  guiding  fiction,  as  payment  on  account 
becomes  distinctly  obvious. 

Gustave  Freytag  in  his  "Reminiscences  of  my  Life"  describes 
the  usefulness  of  the  compensatory  performance  in  the  following 
manner  : 

'  But  too  the  bull's-eye-shot  on  the  target  is  difficult  to  me. 
For  at  Oels  I  had  noticed  during  the  instruction  that  I  was  very 
near  sighted.  When  I  complained  of  this  during  the  vacation 
to  my  father,  he  advised  me  to  make  my  way  through  the  world 
without  glasses  and  told  me  a  story  illustrating  the  helplessness 
of  a  theologist  who  had  made  him  get  up  out  of  bed  one  morning 
to  hunt  his  spectacles  so  that  he  could  find  his  trousers.  I 
followed  this  advice  and  have  accustomed  myself  to  the  use  of 
spectacles  only  at  the  theatre  and  in  looking  at  pictures.  I 
sought  to  overcome  the  disadvantages  under  which  I  labored  in 
society  from  this  defect  and  overlooked  much  unsuspectedly 
which  would  have  disgusted  a  sharper  observer.  I  was  often 
obliged  to  forego  the  enjoyment  of  flowers,  beauty  in  dress,  of 

E 


42  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

remarkable  countenances  and  beauty  in  women  from  which  others 
derived  pleasure.  But  as  the  same  adjusted  itself  adroitly  to  this 
defect  of  sense,  there  was  soon  developed  in  me  a  good  under- 
standing of  those  expressions  of  life  which  came  within  my  range 
of  vision  and  a  quick  divination  of  much  which  was  not  clear 
to  me  ;  the  smaller  number  of  the  perceptions  permitted  me  to 
elaborate  those  which  were  perceived  with  greater  ease  and 
perhaps  more  profoundly.  At  any  rate  the  loss  was  greater  than 
the  gain.  But  my  father  was  thus  far  right,  my  eyes  preserved 
unchanged  throughout  my  entire  life  their  keenness  of  vision 
at  close  distances." 

If  one  imagines  the  development  of  a  visual  phantasy  of  this 
sort  which  constantly  draws  away  from  reality  goaded  by  the 
pressure  of  the  craving  for  security,  there  results  for  the  same 
purpose  of  obtaining  security  as  in  the  above  cited  example,  an 
ability  to  produce  visual  hallucinations  which  can  manifest  itself 
even  outside  of  dream  states,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
warnings  to  preserve  personal  security  and  encouraging 
consolations.  The  abstractions  and  also  the  anticipations  have 
even  gone  farther  and  may  lead  to  the  well  known  remarkable 
pathological  expressions  of  the  "  telepaths  "  or  Cassandra 
natures.  The  disquieting  consciousness  of  inferiority  gives  a 
terrible  incentive  to  this  reaching  out  beyond  the  limits  of  human 
possibilities  here  as  in  other  instances,  and  this  consciousness 
rinding  refuge  in  weakness  ascribes  to  others  a  greater  power 
of  vision,  as  though  they  could  see  what  was  hidden,  could  read 
the  thoughts.  The  child  in  his  craving  for  security  with  his 
natural  secrecy  may  early  incline  to  just  this  point  in  order  to 
gain  security,  and  act  under  the  imaginary  assumption  that  others 
can  "  see  into  his  heart,"  can  divine  his  most  hidden  thoughts, 
an  assumption  which  often  makes  its  appearance  as  an  expedient 
in  the  neurosis  and  psychosis  and  has  the  same  value  as  the 
exaggerated  feeling  of  guilt,  perhaps,  and  neurotic  conscientious- 
ness, and  whose  purpose  is  to  avoid  a  degradation  of  self-esteem, 
shame,  punishment,  mockery,  humiliation,  the  feminine  r61e, 
death. 

The  increased  capacity  of  the  neurotic  for  abstractions  for 
anticipations  is  not  only  at  the  root  of  his  hallucinatory  character, 
of  his  fantasies  and  his  dreams  but  also  of  the  over-exertion  of 
organ  functioning  of  which  he  makes  use  in  purposeful  efforts  as 
preparations  for  the  combat.  Thus  the  neurotic  makes  for 
himself  a  place  by  more  abstract  prevision  and  premeditation, 
and  constructs  thereof,  that  neurotic  foresight  which  is  regularly 
present  in  this  disease,  by  means  of  which  the  patient  holds  the 
possibilities  of  experience  constantly  before  him  arranged 
dogmatically  and  in  sharply  antithetical  groups  according  to  the 
Scheme  "  Triumph — Defeat."  Or  he  places  his  environment 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  43 

under  ban  by  heightening  the  sensibility  of  his  organs  (which 
is  the  first  step  towards  hallucinations)  snowing  hypersensibility 
to  smells,  sounds,  touch,  temperature,  tastes  and  pains,  and 
this  brings  his  undertakings  constantly  into  harmony  with  his 
imaginary  masculine  guiding  principle.  Foolishness  and 
superstitious  convictions  of  a  hopeless  destiny,  the  firm  seated 
belief  in  one's  own  ill  luck  serve  the  same  purpose  of  satisfying 
the  craving  for  security  by  constructing  the  proof  that  caution 
is  necessary.  The  hallucinatory  awakening  of  anxiety  works 
in  the  same  direction,  of  which  the  neurotic  makes  extensive 
use. 

That  the  traits  of  character  as  well  as  the  emotional  pre- 
dispositions serve  the  guiding  fiction,  it  is  the  purpose  of  this 
book  to  prove  to  the  fullest  degree.  The  guiding  line  of  the 
neurotic  leading  in  a  directly  perpendicular  line  upwards  demand's 
peculiar  expedients  and  forms  of  life  which  are  included  under 
the  little  uniform  concept  of  the  neurotic  symptoms.  Now  one 
finds  safety-devices  at  remote  places,  prohibitory  arrangements, 
protective  combats,  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  success  to  the 
central  impulse,  the  will  to  power,  then  again  there  are,  and 
these  are  often  difficult  to  understand,  circuitous  ways 
comparable  to  secret  paths,  taken  so  as  not  to  lose  the  guiding 
line  when  the  direct  way  to  the  masculine  triumph  is  barred. 
Often  a  change  of  nervous  phenomena  is  observed  which 
resembles  tentative  experiments,  until  the  more  severe  symptom 
guarantees  a  concordance  with  the  guiding  idea. 

I  believe  too  that  I  have  presented  in  the  present  work  these 
symptoms  and  their  psycho-genesis  coherently  and  to  a  sufficient 
extent.  They  all  rest  on  dexterity  acquired  by  long  practice  and 
preparation  whose  hypervalency  is  supported  through  the 
medium  of  and  is  founded  on  the  fitness  for  the  combat  to 
preserve  the  ideal  self-esteem.  The  preparations  themselves 
commence  in  the  beginning  of  the  neurosis,  accompany  the 
development  of  the  idea  of  personal  worth  and  are  adapted  to 
it.  They  are  most  clearly  recognized  in  the  reminiscences  of 
childhood  which  have  been  presented  in  the  oft  returning  dreams, 
in  the  mimic,  the  habitus,  in  the  play  of  children,  in  their 
phantasies,  concerning  future  vocations,  concerning  the  future. 

It  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  too  elevated  guiding  idea  that  it 
should  estrange  the  person  who  entertains  it,  that  is  the  neurotic, 
from  reality.  Not  infrequently  this  condition  manifests  itself  in 
a  "  feeling  of  strangeness  "  which  is  again  over-estimated  and 
used  with  a  view  to  a  certain  effect,  i.e.,  to  recommend  a  cautious 
retreat  in  an  insecure  situation.  Apparently  opposite  to  this 
"  back  "  an  unjustified  feeling  of  confidence  in  a  situation,  the 
feeling  of  "  deja  vu  "  sometimes  becomes  manifest,  often  in 
the  form  of  a  concealed  analogy  for  the  purpose  of  warning  or 


44  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

encouraging.8  In  neurotic  students  I  have  sometimes  observed 
that,  led  by  the  feeling  of  their  predestination,  scholars  have 
sought  a  hearing  on  subjects  with  which  they  were  wholly 
unfamiliar  with  the  result  of  total  failure.  Such  experiences 
may  cause  the  neurotic  to  be  suspicious  of  his  emphasized  feeling 
of  "  self-confidence  "  which  may  emerge,  as  though  he  preserved 
a  bad  after-taste.  The  security  through  the  exaggerated  idea 
of  self-esteem  and  the  adherence  to  it  determines  often  the 
feeling  of  or  even  a  real  condition  of  estrangement  from  the 
world,  which  indeed  is  usually  exaggerated  with  a  definite 
purpose.  Fear  for  everything  now,  ponderousness,  awkward- 
ness, bashfulness,  then  accompany  the  neurotic  who  avoids 
reality  and  reveals  his  efforts  to  reinterpret,  reconstruct  and 
remodel  it.  This  deficiency  also  seeks  its  compensation  and  in 
less  severe  cases  finds  it  in  the  antifiction  leading  to  reality, 
which  again  in  an  abstract,  usually  urgent  form  seeks  to  over- 
estimate the  significance  of  the  reality  from  exaggerated  fear 
of  it  in  order  to  raise  up  preparations  against  error  and  defect  at 
all  times.  The  vacillation  between  the  ideal  and  the  real 
manifests  itself  in  an  extreme»way  in  the  neurotic  psyche,  in 
which  the  passion  for  doubting  assumes  the  form  of  a  paradigm 
for  the  real  "  truth,"  as  the  final  goal  of  power  which  the 
neurotic  is  to  attain.  Or  the  outer  forms  are  pedantically  held 
to  and  over-estimated  as  is  a  fetish,  and  as  though  they 
guaranteed  security.  The  following  sentence  from  Rebel's 
letters  *  seems  to  me  to  indicate  this  feature. 

"  One  can  never  pay  sufficient  honor  to  the  outer  forms  which 
in  youth  are  so  thoughtlessly  ridiculed,  for  they  are  the  only 
lines  which  assist  in  making  decisions  in  the  restlessly  changing 
world  without  law  or  order  " —  In  small  things  as  in  great  this 
craving  for  security  is  always  manifested  and  humanity  is  always 
seeking  it  by  analogies,  and  by  abstract  dogmatic  methods. 

The  frequency  of  sexual  guiding  lines  in  the  neuroses  is 
explained  in  unprejudiced  analyses  upon  the  following  grounds  : 

1.  Because  they  furnish  a  suitable  form  of  expression  for  the 
masculine  protest. 

2.  Because  it  lies  within  the  option  of  the  patient  to  feel 
them  as  real. 

Therefore,  the  adaptation  of  the  sexual  imaginary  guiding  line 
depends  also  on  its  value  in  procuring  security  for  the  feeling  of 
self-esteem,  on  its  significance  as  an  abstraction  and  quality  of 
exciting  hallucinations,  and  on  its  quality  of  easily  receiving  a 
concrete  form  and  because  it  admits  of  anticipations. 

*  The  feeling  of  strangeness  and  the  feeling1  of  familiarity  in  the  neurosis 
are  analogous  to  the  image  of  warning  and  exhortation  of  an  inner  voice  in 
the  dream,  the  hallucination  and  the  attitude  in  the  psychosis. 

9E.  W.  Werner,  from  Hebel's  youth,  Oesterreichische  Kundschau,  1911. 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  45 

According  to  this  the  hallucinatory  character  of  the  neurotic 
is  a  peculiar  instance  of  the  mechanism  of  security.  It  makes 
use,  as  does  thinking  and  speech,  of  the  primitive  recollections 
reduced  to  the  smallest  dynamic  measure  to  which  he  is  drawn 
by  means  of  the  abstracting  power  of  the  craving  for  security. 
Its  function  and  office  is  to  calculate  the  way  to  the  desired 
heights  by  use  of  analogy  from  experiences  which  have  their 
place  in  childhood  in  emphasizing  set-backs  that  have  been 
endured  or  comforting  memories  of  evils  that  have  been  over- 
come. 

The  hallucinatory  power  represents  a  completed  preparation 
accomplished  by  the  overstrained  craving  for  security,  and  takes 
its  material,  as  does  also  the  function  of  thought  and  pre- 
meditation from  the  cast-iron  element  of  the  neurotically  directed 
memory.  That  which  is  called  regression  in  dream  and  in 
hallucinations  by  other  writers  is  the  every-day  process  of 
thought  which  gropes  back  to  experience,  and  can  only  refer  to 
the  material  of  the  dreams  and  hallucinations,  but  never  to  their 
dynamics. 

The  psychic  dynamic  of  an  hallucination  consist  therefore  in 
this,  that  in  a  situation  of  uncertainty,  a  guiding  line  is  sought 
with  might  and  is  hypostasized  by  means  of  an  abstraction,  per 
analogium  with  the  evaluation  of  experience,  by  means  of 
anticipation  and  by  means  of  a  fictitious  rendition  of  something 
closely  related  to  a  sensory  perception.  This  latter  ability  as 
the  most  effective  means  of  expression  may,  by  reason  of  the 
anti-fiction  which  inclines  to  reality,  be  felt  as  in  conscious 
opposition  to  reality  as  in  dreams,  or  in  the  craving  for  security 
dissolves  the  anti-fiction  and  permits  the  hallucination  to  be  felt 
as  real. 

Jodl  defined  civilization  as  "  the  increased  effort  of  man 
under  certain  circumstances  and  with  special  intensity  to  secure 
his  person  and  life  against  hostile  powers  of  nature  as  well  as 
from  the  antagonism  of  his  fellow  men,  to  satisfy  his  needs 
both  real  and  ideal  in  a  greater  measure  and  to  bring  his  nature 
without  obstacle  to  development." 

The  neurotic  individual  holds  the  guiding  line  much  more 
constantly  in  view,  but  may  accordingly  need  to  bring  to 
expression  schematically  and  dogmatically  the  guiding  line 
which  leads  to  the  transcendental  or  the  anti-fiction  which  tends 
to  culture,  the  latter  in  the  sense  of  a  neurotic  circuitous  way, 
in  which,  for  example,  he  seems  to  submit  to  an  extreme  degree 
to  the  "  antagonism  of  his  fellow  men  "  for  the  purpose  of 
triumphing  over  them. 

The  evolution  of  the  effort  to  bring  his  nature  to  the  fullest 
development,  to  attain  the  pinnacle  of  that  which  the  neurotic 
individual  may  call  his  culture  leads  us  back  again  to  the  already 


46  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

mentioned  preparations  so  important  from  a  psychological  point 
of  view,  to  the  tentative  efforts  which  are  supposed  to  be 
introduced  by  the  original  consciousness  of  inferiority. 

All  the  imperfect  organs  in  a  state  of  infantile  development 
strive  with  all  their  connate  capacities  and  possibilities  of 
development  to  form  purposeful,  so  to  speak,  intelligent 
preparatory  arrangements.  In  the  efforts  of  the  constitutionally 
inferior  organs  with  their  numerous  abortive  performances 
arises,  as  a  consequence  of  the  greater  tension  in  the  presence 
of  the  requirements  of  the  external  world,  the  impression  of 
uncertainty,  the  self-esteem  of  the  child  brings  forward  a 
permanent  consciousness  of  inferiority.  Thus  it  happens  that 
already  in  early  childhood  the  mastery  of  the  situation  according 
to  an  example  taken  as  a  model  or  to  dominate  the  situation 
even  far  beyond  the  power  indicated  in  the  model  is  taken  as  the 
guiding  motive  and  a  permanent  impulse  of  will  is  founded  which 
hands  over  the  permanent  guidance  to  a  directing  idea — "  the 
will  to  power."  The  positing  of  a  goal  in  the  neurotic  character 
is  a  phase  of  the  same  tendency.  This  goal  corresponds 
consciously  or  unconsciously  to  the  formula  :  '  I  must  act  in 
such  a  way  that  in  the  end  I  become  the  master  of  the  situation." 
Long  continuation  of  the  child  in  the  phase  of  consciousness  of 
inferiority  leads  to  a  heightening  and  strengthening  of  the 
intensity  of  that  formula,  so  that  from  the  unusual  intensity  of 
all  efforts,  the  preparatory  actions  and  the  predispositions,  the 
traits  of  character  of  any  period  of  development  may  be  inferred 
as  original  consciousness  of  inferiority.  Also  in  organs  falling 
below  the  normal  standard  the  tentative  efforts  are  manifested, 
which  produce  preparations  and  expedients  in  walking,  seeing, 
eating,  hearing.  Exner  emphasizes  that  these  tentative  efforts 
are  like  those  which  precede  the  grasping  of  the  sound 
combinations  when  children  are  learning  to  speak.  Much  more 
convulsive  in  form  are  the  preliminary  processes  in  the  defective 
organ,  whose  preparations  and  methods  of  functioning  in 
favorable  examples  of  over-compensation,  are  in  height,  light 
artistic  performances  and  perfection,  but  which  often  as  in  the 
neurosis  because  of  the  close  guard  kept  and  the  cautiousness, 
rarely  attain  full  development.  The  child  seeks  to  learn  his 
faults  in  the  way  offered  him  by  the  craving  for  security,  and  seeks 
to  remedy  them  or  to  gain  advantage  from  them  in  using  them  as 
an  expedient.  As  he  does  not  know  the  real  reason  for  his 
inferiority,  often  from  pride  does  not  wish  to  know  them,  he  is 
easily  misled  to  ascribe  them  to  external  reasons,  to  blame  the 
"  spits  of  objects  "  or  usually,  his  relatives,  and  assumes  then 
an  aggressive,  hostile  attitude  to  the  real  objective  world. 
Usually  he  retains  a  foreboding,  a  presentiment  of  ill-luck  as 
an  abstract  reminder  of  his  feelings  of  inferiority,  which  he  is 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  47 

likely  to  exaggerate,  often  develops  to  a  feeling  of  guilt,  if 
circumstances  admit  of  this,  in  order  to  unfold  his  pre-vision, 
his  foresight  with  good  reason.  The  neurotic  endeavors  are 
above  all  directed  towards  enlarging  and  securing  the  boundaries 
of  self-esteem  by  constantly  estimating  and  testing  the  powers 
in  the  difficulties  of  the  objective  world. 

To  over-exertion  in  this  effort  may  be  traced  many  of  the  traits 
of  the  neurotic — his  inclination  to  play  with  fire,  to  make 
dangerous  situations  and  hunt  for  them,  his  pleasure  in  the 
gruesome  and  the  diabolical  (Michel).  The  inclination  to  crime, 
like  the  sadistic  inclination  lies  in  the  masculine  guiding  line, 
but  is  often  neutralized  by  the  contradictory  idea  which  develops 
and  is  more  often  exaggerated  in  memory,  with  the  purpose  of 
warning  from  execution.  , 

Nervousness,  by  preference,  utilizes  organic  defectiveness, 
the  infantile  defects,  the  sense  of  ill-health  in  general,  on  the  ofie 
hand  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  ego-consciousness  against 
the  requirements  of  parental  authority,  usually  by  means  of  a 
stubborn  revolt,  on  the  other  hand  for  the  purpose  of  postponing 
by  a  sort  of  artificial  obstruction  decisions  and  collisions  which 
might  be  dangerous  to  the  masculine  fiction,  that  is  to  say,  the 
relinquishing  of  certain  positions  of  advantage  in  order  to  retain 
more  important  ones.  Indeed  the  neurotic  individual  often 
seeks  minor  defeats,  even  brings  them  about  artificially,  or 
assumes  dangerous  outlooks  in  order  thereby  ,to  justify  his 
neurotic  acts  and  caution.  In  neurotically  retained  childhood 
defects  a  special  refractoriness  and  strong  aggression  against  the 
father  and  mother  may  be  expected. 

Thus  a  compulsory  striving  toward  the  understanding  of 
objective  difficulties,  efforts  to  overcome  them,  to  gain  the 
mastery,  to  combat  them,  undervaluation  and  depreciation  of 
life  and  its  joys  or  flight  from  them  characterize  a  phase  of  the 
neurosis.  Along  with  this  the  fact  very  frequently  comes  to 
light  that  the  patient  is  very  enthusiastic  for  life,  for  work,  for 
love  and  marriage,  but  platonically,  while  secretly  he  bars  the 
access  to  them  through  the  neurosis,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  his 
domination  in  the  more  limited  field  of  the  family  with  the 
father  and  mother. 

This  outwardly  directed  anxious  and  cautious  glance  of  the 
neurotic  which  is  intended  to  preserve  the  guiding  fiction  is 
regularly  accompanied  by  a  self-observation  of  a  higher 
intensity.  Sometimes  in  a  situation  of  psychic  uncertainty  the 
personified,  deified  guiding  idea  is  met  with  as  a  second  self,  as 
an  inner  voice  like  the  Daemon  of  Socrates  which  warns, 
encourages,  punishes,  accuses.  And  that  which  the  neurasthenics 
and  hypochondriacs  relate  to  us  concerning  the  manner  in  which 
they  inwardly  rage,  how  keenly  they  examine  and  follow  every 


48  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

act  of  their  lives  is  true  of  neurotics  generally.  The  self- 
observation  may  lead  to  a  limitation  of  the  field  of  combat, 
through  it  it  utilizes  expressions  of  fear  of  sickness,  by  means  of 
which  the  neurotic  individual  is  always  in  a  position  to  beat  a 
retreat  for  the  sake  of  security.  It  must  be  thought  of  as 
effective,  when  the  primitive  expedients  for  gaining  security, 
such  as  anxiety,  shame,  bashfulness,  or  the  more  complex  ones, 
as  modesty,  conscientiousness,  nervous  attacks,  accompany  the 
presentiment  of  a  defeat,  in  order  not  to  allow  the  self-esteem 
to  sink  below  the  required  level.  Self-observation  and  self- 
esteem  always  excited  and  reenforced  by  the  guiding  fiction  so 
that  a  base  of  operation  is  offered  and  the  aggressions  introduced 
produce  immediately  the  neurotic,  dogmatic  traits  of  character, 
of  envy,  greed,  tyranny,  etc.  The  exaggerated  introspection 
plays  a  constant  role  in  the  continuous  measuring  and  wrestling 
of  the  neurotic  individual  to  test  his  own  worth  against  that  of 
others,  it  gives  hints  to  premeditation  and  phantasy  and  announces 
its  presence  when  the  patient  avoids  making  a  decision  or  when 
for  the  same  purpose  he  gives  himself  up  permanently  to  doubt. 
That  all  these  introspections  originate  from  the  feeling  of 
Insufficiency  and  are  influenced  by  it  is  just  as  easy  to  under- 
stand, as  that  they  finally  reach  the  goal  to  which  they  in  reality 
tend,  i.e.,  caution.  Thus  introspection  is  at  once  hesitation, 
egotism,  megalomania,  doubt,  self-depreciatory  psychosis,  and 
stands  in  connection  with  all  other  phenomena  which  are  caused 
by  the  consciousness  of  inferiority.  It  serves  especially  for  the 
reenforcement  and  testing  of  the  masculine  protest,  of 
characteristics  such  as  courage,  pride,  ambition,  etc.,  as  well 
as  the  purpose  of  increasing  all  those  tendencies  whose  acme  is 
security,  such  as  economy,  exactness,  industry,  cleanliness.  It 
influences  the  attention  and  serves  also  to  dominate  it,  so  that 
it  occupies  a  prominent  position  in  that  mesh  of  traits  whose 
object  it  is  to  gain  security.  The  results,  however,  at  which  it 
arrives  are  purposely  falsified.  It  would  be  very  erroneous  to 
regard  it  as  libidinous  or  as  pleasure  producing.  Its  function 
is  rather  to  group  all  the  impressions  of  the  objective  world  and 
to  bring  them  under  a  single  test,  in  such  a  way,  so  to  speak, 
that  the  primary  uncertainty  of  the  individual  shall  be  assured 
from  being  unmasked  by  a  mathematical  or  statistical  guarantee 
according  to  the  standard  of  probability,  i.e.,  that  the  individual 
shall  escape  a  defeat.  I  first  called  attention  to  the  dynamic  of 
the  neurosis  in  the  "  Neurotic  Disposition  "  and  the  object  of 
the  present  work  is  to  present  it  in  a  more  profound  and 
extended  form.  The  purposeful  and  profound  introspection, 
therefore,  is  in  line  with  the  neurosis,  even  though  in 
philosophy,  psychology  and  in  self-knowledge  it  has  produced 
excellent  fruit.  It  is  the  private  philosophy  of  the  neurotic 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  49 

which  fails  to  hit  the  mark  of  reality,  and  whose  mania,  corrigible 
by  analysis,  has  its  analogy  in  the  "  know  thyself  "  of  the 
sublime  philosophers.  The  largely  incorrigible  delirium  of  the 
psychotics  brooding  and  phantastic  introspection,  which  is  so 
much  easier  to  comprehend  as  a  systematized  illusion  with  the 
object  of  assuring  self-esteem,  teaches  us  to  understand  the 
delirium  of  the  introspection  of  the  neurotic. 

The  neurotic's  striving  for  security,  his  very  stronghold,  can 
therefore  only  be  understood  when  the  original,  contrary  factor 
of  his  uncertainties  is  likewise  taken  into  consideration.  Both 
are  the  result  of  an  antithetically  grouped  judgment  which  has 
come  to  depend  on  the  fictitious  egotistic  ideal,  which  furnishes 
to  this  judgrpent  biased  "  subjective  "  values.  The  feeling  of 
"  security  "  and  its  opposite  pole  of  ;<  insecurity  "  arranged 
according  to  the  antithesis  of  "feeling  inferiority"  and  "egotistic 
ideal"  are  like  these  latter  a  fictitious  pair  of  values,  a  psychic 
formation  of  which  Vaihinger  says  "  that  the  real  in  them  is 
artificially  placed  there,  that  only  when  taken  together  have 
they  meaning  and  value,  taken  singly,  however,  they  lead  through 
their  isolation  to  nonsense,  contradictions  and  illusionary 
problems."  In  the  analysis  of  psychoneuroses  it  always  becomes 
obvious  that  this  antithesis  resolves  itself  in  accordance  with 
the  only  real  "  antithesis  "  of  "  man — woman,"  so  that  the 
feeling  of  inferiority,  uncertainty,  lowliness,  effeminacy,  falls 
on  one  side  of  the  table,  the  antithesis  of  certainty,  superiority, 
self-esteem,  manliness,  on  the  other.  The  dynamics  of  the 
neurosis  can  therefore  be  regarded  (and  is  often  so  understood 
by  the  neurotic  because  of  its  irradiation  upon  his  psyche)  as  if 
the  patient  wished  to  change  from  a  woman  to  a  man.  This 
effect  yields  in  its  most  highly  colored  form  the  picture  of  that 
which  I  have  called  the  "  masculine  protest." 

The  strength  of  the  manly  element  in  the  idea  of  cultural 
perfection  as  well  as  more  particularly  in  the  artificial  guiding 
lines  of  neurotics  as  we  find  it  in  the  wishes  and  actions,  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  our  patients,  in  their  attitude  toward  the  objective 
world,  in  their  preparations  for  life,  in  every  trait  of  character, 
in  every  physical  and  psychical  gesture,  which  gives  the  impulse 
to  the  upward  movement  and  directs  the  line  of  life  upward, 
permits  us  to  divine  that  in  the  beginning  of  psychical  develop- 
ment a  deficiency  of  such  manly  power  was  felt,  and  that  the 
original  feeling  of  inferiority  realized  by  the  constitutionally 
defective  child  was  estimated  as  feminine  in  conformity  with 
this  antithesis.  No  matter  what  was  at  the  foundation  of  the 
feeling  of  inferiority,  when  the  strong  neurotic  stronghold  is 
introduced  through  the  setting  up  of  the  masculine  fiction,  the 
supposed  basis  of  the  childish  uncertainty  and  the  uncertainty 
itself  fall  under  the  phenomena  which  are  considered  as 


50  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

effeminate  as  a  consequence  of  the  neurotic,  antithetical 
grouping.  The  feeling  of  insignificance,  of  weakness,  of  anxiety 
and  helplessness,  of  ill  health,  of  deficiency,  of  pain,  etc., 
produces  in  the  neurotic  actions  of  such  a  nature  that  he  seems 
to  be  compelled  to  set  up  a  defence  against  effeminacy,  that  is 
to  say,  to  be  obliged  to  act  in  a  manly  and  forceful  manner.  la 
the  same  manner  this  answer  follows,  the  affect-possibilities  of 
the  masculine  protest  react  against  every  degradation,  against 
the  feeling  of  uncertainty,  of  being  injured,  of  inferiority,  and 
the  neurotic  individual  draws  constantly  effective  guiding  lines 
for  his  volition,  action  and  thoughts  in  the  lorm  of  traits  of 
character  in  the  broad  chaotic  field  of  his  soul,  in  order  not  to 
miss  the  way  to  the  heights,  in  order  to  make  his  security 
complete.  Usually  the  traits  of  character  tend  in  a  direct  line 
of  the  masculine  ideal  in  both  the  male  and  the  female  patients, 
but  the  neurotic  circuitous  ways,  attacks  and  predispositions  to 
attack  especially  following  the  decisive  defeat  whose  analysis 
and  arrangements  in  the  ensemble  reveals  the  same  tendency  to 
the  heightening  of  the  masculine  ego-consciousness,  manifest 
themselves  as  in  accordance  with  the  above  given  expositions, 
even  though  from  an  outside  view  and  superficially  considered 
they  may  appear  to  be  timidity,  anxiety,  effeminacy,  and  may 
be  regarded  as  flight  or  retreat  from  the  world.  The  simple 
question  concerning  the  stability  of  the  far  fetched  expedient  in 
the  form  of  a  neurotic  symptom  enables  us  to  understand  that 
in  these  latter  cases  it  is  not  because  a  decision  has  been  reached, 
but  because  the  originally  constructed  imaginary  masculine  goal 
is  effective  now  as  it  was  before  and  that  a  cultural  adaptation, 
peace  and  contentment,  cannot  be  maintained,  because  the  goal 
is  set  too  high. 

Through  certain  uncertainties  of  the  child  concerning  his 
own  sex-role  the  masculine  element  in  the  guiding  fiction  is 
considerably  reenforced.  In  fact  one  observes  that  children 
retain  a  remarkable  interest  for  differences  of  sexuality  in  a 
hidden  form.  The  similarity  of  dress  in  children  in  the  first 
years,  the  feminine  features  in  small  boys,  and  masculine  in  girlsr 
certain  threats  of  the  parents  as  "  a  boy  will  change  himself 
into  a  girl  "  reproaches  to  the  boy  that  he  is  like  a  girl,  to  a 
girl  that  she  is  like  a  boy,  may  still  increase  this  uncertainty,  as 
long  as  the  differences  in  the  genital  organs  are  unknown.  But 
even  where  there  is  the  fullest  explanation,  doubt  may  awaken 
through  anomalies  of  the  genital  organs  in  erroneous  judgments, 
which  may  be  retained  and  emerge  constantly  in  later  life  in  the 
antithetical  picture  of  "  masculine-feminine  "  so  that  our 
original  statement  li  that  the  doubt  of  his  own  sex-role  is  at  the 

10  "  Psvrhic   Hertnnphrodism  in  Life   and   in  the   Neurosis."  1.   c.   and   the 
later  publications. 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  SF 

foundation  of  the  neurotic  doubt  needs  extension  only  in  one 
direction,  i.e.,  that  the  neurosis  holds  fast  to  this  condition  of 
doubt  in  the  patient  subsequently  as  a  security  against  the 
necessity  of  decadency,  in  order  to  construct  the  "  hesitating 
attitude." 

The  longer  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  sex-role  exists,  the  more 
urgent  becomes  the  effort  and  tentative  preparation  to  attain 
the  masculine  role.  Thus  originates  the  original  picture  of  the 

masculine  protest  ' '  which  has  as  aim  to  force  the  one  in  whom 
it  exists  under  all  circumstances  into  the  seemingly  most 
masculine  attitude,  or,  as  is  the  case  with  girls  and  boys,  who 
early  become  neurotic,  to  prevent  set-backs  in  all  forms  by 
neurotic  expedients,  simultaneously,  however,  to  build  up 
directly  masculine  traits  of  character  and  strong  affect- 
predisposition. 

The  fore-stage  of  the  knowledge  of  the  sex-role,  that  is  the 
period  of  psychic  hermaphroditism  of  the  child  exists  generally. 
Attention  has  been  called  to  its  importance  by  Dessoir  and 
myself.  That  this  stadium  with  its  strong  endeavors  in  the- 
direction  of  the  masculine  guiding  line  is  of  the  greatest 
significance  for  the  development  of  the  neurosis  with  its  too- 
elevated  manly  goal  and  its  expedients  for  gaining  security  was 
demonstrated  to  me  by  the  analysis  of  the  psychoneurosis. 
Goethe  proves  himself  to  be  a  good  observer  and  connoisseur  of 
nature  when  he  says  in  Wilhelm  Meister's  Theatrical  Consign- 
ment, "  Just  as  at  certain  periods  in  their  life,  children  begin 
to  pay  attention  to  the  differences  in  the  sex  of  their  parents, 
and  their  glances  through  the  envelopes  which  conceal  these 
secrets  bring  forth  very  wonderful  emotions  in  their  nature,  so* 
it  was  with  Wilhelm  in  this  discovery  ;  he  was  more  quiet  and 
less  quiet  than  before,  thought  he  had  learned  something  and 
just  from  this  perceived  that  he  knew  nothing." 

In  fact  one  finds  as  the  first  expression  of  this  inexperience 
and  its  depressing  reaction  upon  the  psyche  an  enormous  amount 
of  curiosity  and  craving  for  knowledge  and  in  order  to  find 
orientation  in  life  notwithstanding  this  the  child  comes 
under  the  influence  of  the  guiding  line  which  impels  him  to  act 
as  though  he  must  know  everything.  Should  he  happen  to  find 
out  the  superiority  of  the  manly  principle  in  our  society,  the 
guiding  model  becomes  masculine,  especially  if  a  man,  the  father 
appears  to  him  to  be  the  person  with  knowledge. 

In  the  case  of  little  girls  peculiar  traits  of  character  which 
become  especially  prominent  in  the  neurosis  develop  when  they 
try  to  hold  fast  to  the  masculine  guiding  line.  The  feeling  of 
having  suffered  an  injury  has  just  as  much  weight  with  them  as 
for  boys  who  consider  themselves  female,  so  that  they  put  alF 


52  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

their  interest  into  collecting  proof  of  their  injury  and  building  up 
their  aggression  against  their  environment. 

Imaginary  pictures  of  castration,  of  man  changed  to  woman, 
woman  to  man,  of  masculine  forms  of  life,  emerge  in  the  analysis 
as  indicators  of  the  neurotic  psyche,  point  to  the  craving  for 
equality  with  man  and  permit  the  masculine  fiction  to  reemerge 
constantly  in  the  later  changes  of  form  of  the  guiding  line.  These 
neurotics  regularly  assume  an  attitude  toward  life  as  though  they 
had  suffered  an  injury,  or  as  though  they  were  constantly  seeking 
witti  the  greatest  caution,  to  avoid  a  loss. 

E.  H.  Meyer  says  in  the  "  Indo-Germanic  Myths"  (I.  S.  16), 
"  According  to  the  Atharva  Veda  the  Gandharvs  (phallic 
Daemons)  consume  the  testicles  of  boys  and  thus  transform  the 
boys  into  girls."  The  ideas  of  many  neurotics  in  childhood 
seem  to  have  assumed  this  and  similar  forms  concerning  the 
origination  of  the  two  sexes,  as  if  from  thoughts  concerning  a 
degradation  which  has  been  suffered  and  which  assumes  the 
form  of  a  sexual  transformation  with  the  woman.  The  immediate 
psychical  result  is  then  as  a  rule  more  acute  aggression  against 
the  parents,  to  whom  is  ascribed  the  blame  for  this  shortcoming. 

Flies,  Halban,  Weininger,  and  before  them,  among  others, 
Schopenhauer  and  Krafft-Ebing,  founded  the  psychic 
Tiermaphroditism  on  the  presence  of  a  hypothetical  male  and 
female  substance  in  the  individual.  Our  concept  supposes  only 
ihe  antithesis  in  the  valuation  of  male  and  female  as  it  actually 
exists,  takes  into  account  the  universality  of  the  antithetical 
figurative  apperception-scheme  "  male-female  "  and  deduces 
from  the  pressure  of  the  neurotically  reenforced  and  heightened 
egotistic  ideal  the  masculine  factor  which  is  so  easily  discover- 
able. The  latter  conditions  also  the  emphasis  of  the  feeling  of 
inferiority  of  the  individual  by  comprehending  it  in  a  picture 
which  belongs  to  the  feminine  role  in  order  to  react  against  it 
with  the  character  traits,  the  impulses,  and  preparations  of  the 
masculine  protest.  The  findings  published  by  me  have  been 
taken  up  in  a  series  of  the  latest  works  from  the  Freudian  school. 
A  further  pursuance  of  the  matter  leads  irrevocably  to  a 
realization  of  the  untenableness  of  the  libido-theory,  to  a  doing 
away  with  the  sexual  etiology  and  to  an  understanding  of  the 
neurotic  sexual  conduct  as  a  fiction. 

If  the  masculine  protest  has  thus  become  clear  to  us  as  an 
expedient  of  the  psyche  by  means  of  which  it  attains  full  security, 
and  strives  to  bring  itself  in  conformity  with  the  guiding  egotistic 
idea,  it  still  remains  to  present  to  view  the  formal  change  of  this 
guiding  line  as  it  takes  place  every  time  contradictions  become 
apparent  in  it  and  the  purpose  of  neurotic  efforts  to  maintain 
superiority  is  jeopardized.  This  is  the  case  when  reality  threatens 
"the  egotistic  ideal  with  degradation.  The  neurotic  in  this  case 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  53. 

will  cling  more  tenaciously  to  his  idea  than  the  normal  person. 
The  more  deeply,  however,  he  becomes  entangled  in  the 
reassuring  neurosis,  the  more  likely  is  he,  being  assisted  by 
memories  and  warnings,  to  anticipate  an  injury,  to  construct 
new  neurotic  circuitous  ways,  to  apply  further  neurotic  expedients 
for  security  which  for  a  problem  under  consideration  contain 
neither  a  fiat  nor  a  negation,  or  more  likely  both  at  once. 

His  psychic  hermaphroditic  character  will  also  manifest  itself 
in  the  circumstance  that  he  yields,  becomes  submissive, 
effeminate,  while  his  efforts  at  the  same  time  reveal  a  pressure 
towards  a  tendency  to  dominate,  toward  manliness,  with  the 
result  that  he  makes  no  progress,  because  for  every  step  he  takes 
forward  he  takes  one  backward,  and  sometimes  even  expresses 
this  procedure  in  pantomime.  In  the  same  way  the  fear  »of 
blame,  of  punishment,  of  shame,  in  short  of  being  "  down  "  may 
alter  his  straightforward  manly  traits.  The  construction  of  the 
neurotic  feelings  of  guilt,  of  congenital  criminal  instincts,  of 
roughness,  of  cruelty,  and  egotism  bear  fear-inspiring  signs  in 
the  same  ways  as  the  feelings  of  bashfulness,  cowardice,  dullness 
and  laziness  when  these  latter  are  brought  neurotically  to 
expression.  The  bad,  intractable  child,  the  years  of  wild  oats, 
and  certain  forms  of  psychoses,  frequently  the  fore-stage  of  the 
"developed  neurosis,"  show  us  the  masculine  protest  in  a  high, 
rectilinear  development.  Their  performances  are  produced 
directly  by  the  surge  of  the  masculine  protest  which  has  become 
an  end  in  itself  and  which  represents  wholly  and  entirely  the 
reenforced  guiding  fiction. 

Our  theoretical  presentation  of  the  neurotic  psyche  would  be 
incomplete,  if  it  did  riot  also  enter  upon  the  subject  of  the  nature 
and  significance  of  dreams.  I  can  in  this  .place  advance  no  well 
founded  theory  of  dreams,  to  say  nothing  of  a  complete  one. 
But  for  various  reasons  I  am  obliged  to  communicate  all  the 
observations  and  findings  which  have  rendered  possible  the 
study  of  dreams  in  the  practical  part  of  the  work. 

Freud's  interpretation  of  dreams  was  perhaps  the  greatest  step 
in  advance  which  has  been  made  in  our  understanding  of  the 
psychology  of  the  neuroses.  And  yet  I  cannot  regard  it  as  the 
final  step  in  our  knowledge  of  dreams.  In  the  course  of  an 
observation  of  dreams  extending  over  many  years  of  healthy  and 
unhealthy  persons  I  have  arrived  at  the  following  result : 

i.  The  dream  is  a  sketch-like  reflection  of  psychic  attitudes 
and  indicates  for  the  investigator  the  characteristic  manner  in 
which  the  dreamer  takes  his  attitude  in  regard  to  a  certain 
problem.  It  coincides,  therefore,  with  the  form  of  the  fictitious 
guiding  line,  yields  only  efforts  of  premeditation,  tentative 
preparations  of  an  aggressive  attitude  and  can  therefore  be 
utilized  to  great  advantage  for  the  purpose  of  understanding 


,54  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

these  individual  preparations,  predispositions,   and  the  guiding 
fiction  itself. 

2.  In  the  same  way  there  comes  to  light  in  the  dream,  in  a 
more  or  less  abstract  manner,  the  dreamer's  attitude  towards  the 
world  about  him  as  well  as  his  traits  of  character  "    and    their 
neurotic  abnormalities.     The  abstraction  in    dream-thought    is 
necessitated  by  the  craving  for  security,  which  seeks  to  solve  a 
problem  by  simplifying  it  and  by  referring  it  to  a  less  complete 
infantile  stage.    This  it  accomplishes  in  a  manner  which  is  true 
of  thinking  generally,  except  that  it  is  more  profound.     It  makes 
use  too  of  memory,    and    in    a    figurative    analogical    manner, 
through  the  hallucinatory  awakening    of    memories    of    a    fear- 
inspiring  or  energy-exciting  sort.     The  exclusion  of  reality  by 
sleep  favors  the  abstract  thinking  in  dreams,  as  correction  is  to 
a  great  part  prevented  by  the  insensibility  of  the  sense  organs. 
To  this  circumstance  as  well  as  to  the  absence  of  a  conscious 
positing   of    purpose   in    dream  thought  is    due   the    incompre- 
hensibility of  the  contents  of  dreams,  which  only  receive  meaning 
when  taken  as  symbols  of  life,  as  an  "as  if  "  for  which  the 
interpretation  has  to  supply  the  real  aggression. 

3.  These  facts  which  still  remain  to  be  proved  as  well  as  the 
form  of  expression  of  the  dream  in  an  "  as  if  "  ("  It  seemed  to 
me  as  if  ")  reveal  to  us  the  nature  of  the  dream  as  a  factor  in 
which  those  tentative  efforts  and  tasks  become  manifest  by  which 
caution  seeks  to  gain  the  mastery  of  a  situation  in  the  future. 
In  the  dreams  of  neurotic  persons  it  is  possible,    therefore,    to 
observe  more  distinctly  than  in  others  the  neurotic  methods  of 
apperception  which  work    according    to    the    principle    of    an 
antithesis,  the  emphasized  feeling  of  inferiority  and  the  guiding 
egotistic  idea,  or  to  divine  them  in  connection  with  the  mental 
life  of  these  persons. 

4.  The  tendency  of  the  neurotically  reenforced  guiding  idea 
will  be  revealed  regularly  in  the  dreams  of  a  neurotic    person, 
usually  in  the  form  of  a  striving  to  attain  a  position  "  above  " 
or  the  masculine  protest.     The  feminine  or  "  under  "  base  of 
operation  is  always  indicated. 

5.  Repeated  dreams  of  the  same  content    and    dreams     of 
childhood  reveal  the   fictitious   guiding    line    most    distinctly. 
Because  they  construct  themselves  upon  a  completed  scheme  or 
one  that  is  in  a  condition  to  be  used  which  is  erected  and  sustained 
by  the  neurotic  final  purpose.     The  various  dreams  of  a  night 
indicate  this  attempt  at  various  solutions  and  are  a  characteristic 
of  the  feeling  of  extreme  uncertainty.     The  so-called  censor  of 
dreams  by  means  of  which  is  accomplished  a  concealment    or 

11  G-.  Chr.  Lichtenberg  already  wrote — If  people  were  to  relate  accurately 
their  dreams,  their  character  could  be  read  from  them  sooner  than  from  the 
/ace. 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  55 

disguising  of  actual  facts  by  distortion,  reveals  itself  as  the 
craving  for  security  which  accomplishes  the  formal  change  of  the 
fiction  in  the  neurosis  as  well  as  in  the  dream,  and  seeks  to  avoid 
by  a  circuitous  way  a  contradiction  in  the  masculine  guiding  line. 
Other  disfigurations  are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  more 
abstract  dream  thinking  and  in  its  character  as  a  mere  reflection. 

6.  The  symbolisms  and  expedients  of  analogy  in  dreams 
are  radiations  containing  forms  and  contents  of  dynamic  affect 
reinforcements,  their  word-pictures,  so  to  speak.  They  are  a 
psychic  superstructure  over  a  compromise  between  a  psychic 
situation  and  a  biased,  usually  falsified,  sophistically  applied 
souvenir  which  must  supply  the  resonance  required  by  the  idea. 

The  fulfillment  of  infantile  wishes  in  dreams  asserted  by 
Freud  is  solved  by  me  by  regarding  it  as  the  effect  of 
premeditation  to  attain  security,  whereby  memories  grouped 
together  with  a  view  to  a  certain  effect  are  taken  as  helps  in  the 
form  of  mementoes,  a  psychic  expedient  which  also  dominates  all 
logical  thinking,  and  which  is  not  the  libidinous  or  sexual  wish 
of  childhood. 

The  only  difference  between  the  neurosis  and  normality  with 
its  dreams  and  its  delusions  is  the  heightened  tendency  brought 
about  by  the  reenforced  fiction,  to  choose  those  memories  which 
have  been  made  effective,  in  short  the  neurotic  perspective, — 
the  neurotic  does  not  suffer  from  reminiscences,  he  makes  them. 

If  this  point  of  comparison,  and  absolutely  necessary  one  for 
orientation  and  certainty  in  action,  becomes  once  fixed,  a  point 
which  is  in  proportion  to  the  degree  with  which  the  feeling  of 
inferiority  weighs  upon  the  child,  this  point  must  for  the  above 
given  reasons,  from  the  necessity  of  making  comparisons,  and 
on  account  of  the  adjustments  which  take  place  in  childhood, 
become  stable,  hypostasized  and  regarded  as  holy,  as  divine.  On 
the  one  hand  are  the  real  conditions  and  activities  of  the  subject  ; 
on  the  other  hand  are  the  compensatory  result  of  the  feeling  of 
inferiority,  the  Deity,  the  guiding  idea  apperceived  in  the  form 
of  a  person  or  an  event.  This  latter  ideal  point  operates  now 
as  though  all  directing  forces  were  contained  in  it.  Thus  first 
arises  from  an  organic,  objective  life  that  which  we  call  soul  life, 
the  psyche. 

Every  step  the  child  takes  directs  itself  according  to  this 
system  and  is  in  turn  directed  by  it.  There  is  a  continuous 
weighing,  feeling,  preparation,  formation  of  predispositions  and 
measuring  on  the  ideal  which  brings  the  child  forward  in  his 
development.  He  measures  himself  with  men  as  well  as  with 
women,  whereby  the  contrast  between  the  sexes  furnishes  a 
guide  and  produces  a  psychic  adjustment  in  accordance  with  a 
contrast  in  a  certain  sense  in  a  hostile,  evasive  direction  in  the 
masculine  line.  In  the  neurotically  disposed  child,  the 


56  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

compensatory  craving  for  security  heightened  by  the  feeling  of 
uncertainty  is  responsible,  through  the  over-stimulation  of 
attention  in  this  direction  for  the  abstract,  neurotically 
reenforced  directing  lines  to  the  high-flown  goal  of  the  masculine 
protest.  And  the  more  sharply  defined  understanding  of  the 
contrast  of  the  sexes  produces  earlier  and  more  profoundly  the 
preparatory  attitudes  toward  the  opposite  sex,  the  more  so 
when,  as  is  the  case  with  neurotics,  the  exclusively  masculine 
appraisal  of  the  ideal  reflects  upon  his  feeling  of  inferiority 
causing  it  to  appear  feminine. 

The  nature  of  home  training  carries  with  it  the  result  that  in 
his  first  attempts  at  formulating  an  ideal  of  personality,  the  child 
pictures  to  himself  traits  belonging  to  the  most  important 
member  of  the  family,  usually  the  father.  Neurotically  disposed 
children  who  in  contrasting  themselves  with  the  father 
experience  an  accentuation  of  their  feeling  of  inferiority, 
immediately  hit  upon  preparatory  expedients  and  construct 
devices  for  combat  as  though  they  were  obliged  to  demonstrate 
their  superiority  to  the  father.  In  these  preparatory  efforts  is 
contained  also  the  attitude  to  the  opposite  sex,  in  so  far  as  the 
intellect  of  the  child  does  not  make  a  mistake  in  regard  to  his 
own  sexual  role,  and  many  of  his  predispositions  which  are  to 
come  into  effectiveness  later  in  life  are  tentatively  practiced  in 
a  playful  manner  upon  members  of  the  family  of  the  opposite 
sex,  in  the  waking  state  or  in  hallucinations,  or  in  his  dreams. 

That  along  with  this  the  mother  serves  in  a  certain  sense  as 
a  model  for  the  boy  has  long  been  known  and  has  been 
mentioned  by  Nietzsche.  The  boundary  itself  which  the  child 
sets  for  himself  is  also  a  matter  of  experiment  for  him.  His 
wishes  are,  if  he  be  neurotically  disposed,  boundless. 
Discontented  because  of  the  too  great  distance  to  his  egotistic 
ideal,  he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  entertain  sexual  wishes  in  regard 
to  the  mother,  a  proof  of  how  boundless  is  the  "  will  to  power." 
A  fixation  of  a  sexual  relation,  however,  must  have  other 
grounds  than  chance  wishes  in  the  field  of  boundless  aspirations. 
The  desire  of  the  boy  extends  to  other  female  persons  with 
whom  he  is  brought  into  contact.  The  picture  if  then  again 
similar  to  that  of  possession  "  to  wish  to  possess  the  mother  " 
becomes  a  sign  of  his  discontent,  a  symbol  of  his  boundless 
aspirations,  of  his  obstinacy  and  his  fear  of  other  women.  Now 
in  later  life  a  "  fixation  "  on  the  mother  from  similar 
constellations  may  result,  not  however,  because  the  wish  was 
heretofore  libidinous.  For  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  of  what 
nature  the  real  relation  to  the  mother  was — the  psyche  of  the 
neurotic  will  always  utilize  it  in  some  way  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  him  security. 

The  motive  of  the  discontent  interests  us  here  above  all.     It 


THE  ACCENTUATED  FICTION  57 

originates  from  the  feeling  of  having  suffered  an  injury  and  it  is 
obvious  that  the  child  waits  fulfillment  of  every  aspiration  in  his 
"  growing  up."  According  to  the  psychology  of  the  "  as  if  " 
he  may  expect  his  cure  from  the  development  of  his  hair,  his 
teeth,  his  genital  organs.  His  experience  with  his  teeth  serves 
to  give  him  the  impression  that  a  thing  may  grow  again.  The 
tooth-motive  plays  a  frequent  role  in  the  dreams  and  phantasies 
with  girls  in  order  to  enable  them  to  cling  to  their  hope  of 
becoming  a  man,  with  boys  to  give  hope  to  their  longing  for  a 
more  complete  manhood.  If  a  tooth  is  pulled,  a  milk  tooth,  a 
new,  stronger  one  forms.  The  pulling  out  of  teeth,  therefore, 
symbolizes  in  the  dream  the  wish  to  become  a  man  , 

Neurotic  men  like  women  are  full  of  the  feeling  of  having 
suffered  an  injury  and  their  whole  life  is  spent  in  the  effort  at 
enlarging  their  spheres  of  influence.  In  order  to  attain  this, 
indeed,  in  order  even  to  assume  their  attitude  toward  this 
effort,  they  are  obliged  to  keep  up  constantly  their  discontent, 
so  that  they  will  find  nourishment  for  it  and  proof  of  their  neglect 
in  every  situation  by  examining  it,  rearranging  it  or  arbitrarily 
changing  it,  but  always  keeping  in  mind  the  fictitious  guiding 
goal.  With  great  regularity,  I  found  in  them  the  apperception 
according  to  the  antithetical  scheme  "  male-female  "  by  means 
of  which  they  sought  and  classified  all  their  experiences.  This 
scheme  according  to  which  they  wish  to  arrange  the  cosmic 
picture  is  usually  overlayed  by  an  antithetical  picture  of  the  large 
and  small  masculine  genitalia.  It  is  a  frequent  and  characteristic 
discovery  that  a  finer  sensibility  develops  at  points  of  the  body 
which  by  nature  are  inferior,  whose  excitability  sometimes  takes 
the  character  of  pleasurable  sensations.  I  have  described  this 
phenomenon  in  the  "  Studie  uber  Organmin  derwertigheit  " 
(1907,  Wien  und  Berlin)  and  refer  them  to  the  compensatory 
adjustment  which  has  come  into  play  during  the  individual's 
experience  in  his  struggle  for  existence  where  the  organs  or 
parts  of  organs  in  question  were  menaced.  These  compensatory, 
now  higher  valued  portions  of  an  inferior  organ — inferior  after 
they  had  suffered  an  injury  in  their  ascendancy — are  really  in 
a  certain  sense  protective  adjustments,  although  frequently 
they  do  not  prove  of  worth.  Because,  however,  their  technique 
has  become  different  and  no  longer  keeps  pace  with  the  nearly 
normal  organ,  the  psychic  phenomena  connected  with  these 
organs  are  striking  and  deviate  from  normality.  This  is  the 
same  albeit  more  minute  variation  based  upon  somatic  inferiority 
of  which  I  have  spoken  in  the  biology,  i.e.',  explanation  of 
variation,  refinement  and  decline  of  an  organ." 

"  Thus  the  "  value  of  an  organ  "  likewise  becomes  a&yrnbol  in  life's  current 
in  which  are  reflected  the  past,  present,  future  a.s  vi6\\  as  the  fictive  goal  in 
like  manner  as  is  the  case  with  the  individual's  maj&-up  or  with  the  neurotic 
symptoms.  The  idea  of  the  "  symbolic  in  a  person's  appearance  "  is  not  a  new 
one.  It  has  been  expressed  by  Port  a,  Gall  and  Carus. 

F 


58  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

In  this  way,  for  instance,  the  serise  of  taste  has  evolved  as  a 
security-serving  apparatus,  in  the  realm  of  the  nutritive  organ, 
but  along  with  this  also  the  pleasure  sense  apparatus  which 
must  now  guarantee  the  continuance  of  nutrition  as  well  as  the 
proper  choice  of  food. 

The  variation  from  the  type  is  brought  about  by  the 
"  compensation  tendency  "  which  is  already  introduced  in  the 
germ  plasm. 

The  environment  (in  a  broader  sense  the  milieu)  dominates 
the  "germ  plasm  "  and  in  this  manner  is  explained  the  prompt 
uniformity  of  reaction,  viz.,  "inferiority  plus  compensatory 
security,"  through  a  change  in  the  conditions  of  life  in  the 
broadest  sense,  that  is  to  say,  all  particular  members  of  a  single 
species  vary  in  the  same  way  when  the  same  change  in  their 
mode  of  life  takes  place.  In  regard  to  human  society  one  must 
keep  constantly  in  mind,  more  so  than  in  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms — that  the  demands  on  the  single  individual 
vary  to  a  considerable  degree  one  from  the  other,  both 
quantitatively  and  qualitatively,  so  that  their  somatic  inferiorities 
and  the  compensatory  adjustments  resulting  therefrom  differ 
very  widely.  And  their  variations  would  be  still  more  striking 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  human  psyche  has  thrust  itself 
into  the  circle  of  correlations  and  compensations  with  such 
preponderance  as  the  principal  organ  of  adjustive  security.1' 
Now  the  standard  tendencies  to  security  are  no  longer  variations 
in  the  organs  themselves,  but  psychic  peculiarities.  There 
always  continues  to  exist  a  connection  which  can  be  sufficiently 
proved,  and  we  are  able  to  infer  from  somatic  variations  stigmata 
and  signs  of  degeneration  of  the  same,  that  there  has  taken 
place  an  increased  compensatory  adjustment  of  the  brain  and 
more  accentuated  tendencies  to  obtain  security.  The  nature 
and  tendency  of  all  psychic  processes  are  full  of  the  efforts  of 
precaution  and  defensive  preparations  for  gaining  superiority 
so  that  one  cannot  avoid  the  conclusion  that  what  we  term  soul, 
spirit,  reason  and  understanding  are  for  us  abstractions  of  those 
effective  guiding  lines,  to  which  human  beings  reach  out  beyond 
the  sphere  of  bodily  sensations,  striving  to  overstep  their 
limitations  in  order  to  gain  the  mastery  of  a  portion  of  the  world 
and  to  secure  themselves  against  threatened  dangers.  The 
imperfection  of  the  independently  acting  organ  is  thus  magically 

13  The  psychic  adjustment  of  man  with  its  preparations  and  peculiar  character- 
istics simulates  so  very  closely  the  adjustive  variations  in  the  animal  sphere, 
that  children,  neurotics,  poets  and  even  speech  itself  utilize  this  analogy  for  the 
purpose  of  elucidating  by  way  of  comparison  a  psychic  gesture,  a  trait  of 
character,  a  type  of  preparedness  by  means  of  a  representation  of  an  animal, 
as  is  the  case  for  instance  in  the  designing  of  escutcheons,  in  poetic  similes, 
>nt  fables  and  parable.  See  also  Erckmafrm's  Chatrain,  the  famous  Dr.  Malthieu, 
Goethe's  Reinecke  Fox,  painting  and  caricatures. 


THE  ACCENTUATED   FICTION  59 

elevated  to  that  security  which  is  furnished  by  knowledge, 
understanding  and  foresight. 

In  the  animal  kingdom  the  function  performed  in  men  by  the 
understanding;  is  performed  by  a  finely  adjusted  technical 
apparatus.  The  fine  scent  of  the  dog  becomes  superfluous  or 
is  brought  under  man's  service,  the  highly  specialized  sense  of 
taste,  which  teaches  cattle  to  avoid  poisonous  plants,  is  supplied 
in  man  by  the  understanding  eye. 

But  it  is  the  same  tendency  which  continues  through  eternity 
the  struggle  of  the  ancestors  to  facilitate  the  preservation  of 
life  by  more  finely  graded,  sharply  differentiated  organs,  as  well 
as  by  more  refined  expedients  of  the  psyche. 

And  thus  it  is  permitted  to  us,  to  regard  this  sort  of  more 
sensitive  peripheral  apparatus,  its  special  physiognomy  and 
mimic  as  a  sign  of  an  imperfection  of  some  organ,  as  a  trace 
which  betrays  a  transmitted  somatic  defect.  This  is  also  true 
of  the  extraordinary  development  of  the  organs  of  taste  in  man, 
for  the  greater  sensibility  to  stimuli  of  the  lips  and  mucous 
membrane  of  the  mouth,  with  which  there  is  usually  associated 
a  more  exacting  state  of  the  gums,  alimentary  canal  and 
stomach. 

Physiognomically  the  picture  of  the  more  inferior  mouth  is 
represented  in  the  form  of  more  mobile,  thicker  or  thinner  lips, 
usually  associated  with  slight  deformities  of  the  lips,  of  the 
tongue  (lingua  scrotallis  Schmidt),  of  the  gums,  with  which  are 
often  associated  signs  of  degeneration  of  these  parts,  enlarged 
tonsils  or  of  the  whole  status  lymphaticus.  At  times,  it  is  true, 
all  higher  development  in  the  sense  of  a  tendency  to  compensation 
is  wanting  in  the  presence  of  an  inferiority,  even  the  hyper- 
asthesia.  Reflex  anomalies  are  quite  common,  sometimes 
exaggeration,  sometimes  diminution  of  the  pharyngeal  reflex  ; 
along  with  defects  of  childhood,  one  observes  a  greater 
occupation  with  the  mouth,  as  touching  of  the  mouth,  thumb, 
sucking,  tendencies  to  put  everything  into  the  mouth,  vomiting. 
Along  with  this,  good  digestion  is  usually  present  in  so  far  as 
this  is  not  prevented  by  other  coexisting  somatic  defects. 

But  the  evil,  the  deprivation  and  the  pain  which  from  the 
cradle  on  are  the  fate  of  the  child  with  an  inferior  alimentary 
tract,  awake  in  him  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  of 
having  suffered  an  injury  and  of  uncertainty  and  force  the 
constitutionally  predisposed  child  to  a  resort  to  fictive 
expedients.  The  over-stron^ly  developed,  precocious,  egotistic 
ideal  includes  within  itself  also  fictitious  goals  of  over- 
gratifications  which  reality  can  never  satisfy.  The  attention  of 
such  children  is  directed  after  the  manner  of  a  compulsory  idea 
to  all  problems  of  nutrition  and  their  sublimation  (Nietzsche). 
The  deprivation  of  a  delicacy  releases  in  them  entirely  different 


60  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

emotions  and  actions  than  we  would  expect.  Their  sense  turns 
to  the  kitchen,  their  play  and  the  infantile  choice  of  vocation 
turn  on  the  phantasy  of  procuring  nutrition,  to  be  cook  or 
candy-maker.  The  importance  of  money  as  a  means  to  power 
dawns  upon  them  earlier  and  more  forcibly,  as  well  as  the  sense 
of  greed  and  economy.  Stereotypies  and  pedantries  in  eating 
are  often  revealed,  courses  of  action  according  to  a  principle 
such  as  the  best  is  to  be  put  into  the  mouth  first  or  last,  the 
impatient  preferring  the  first  practice,  the  cautious  and 
avaricious  the  latter.  Idiosyncrasies  against  certain  foods, 
refusal  of  food,  hasty  swallowing,  are  often  adhered  to  as  traits 
of  obstinacy  and  show  the  application  of  the  problem  of  nutrition 
as  an  aggression  against  the  parents.  Aside  from  the  organic 
diseases  of  later  life  which  go  with  an  inferior  alimentary 
apparatus,  and  among  which  I  have  emphasized  ulcer  of  the 
stomach,  appendicitis,  cancer,  diabetes,  liver  and  gall  bladder 
disease,  there  is  manifested  in  the  neurosis  a  stronger 
participation  and  frequent  employment  of  functional  disturbances 
of  the  digestive  tract.  Its  intimate  relation  to  the  psyche  is 
reflected  in  many  neurotic  and  psychotic  symptoms.  I  believe 
I  am  on  the  track  of  a  special  expedient  of  this  sort,  without 
being  able  to  present  conclusive  facts.  A  number  of  neurotic 
symptoms,  such  as  erythrophobia,  neurotic  obstipation  and  colic, 
asthma,  probably  also  vertigo,  vomiting,  headache,  and 
migraine  stand  in  some  sort  of  relation,  which  is  as  yet  not 
entirely  clear  to  me,  with  a  voluntary  but  unconsciously 
cooperating  activity  of  anus-contraction  ("  cramp  "  of  the  other 
authors)  (spasms  of  sigmoid  flexure,  Holzknecht,  Singer)  and 
that  of  abdominal  pressure,  symbolic  acts  which  are 
accomplished  through  the  domination  of  the  reenforced  fiction. 
Acquisitiveness  and  greed  for  gold  and  power  I  found 
strikingly  in  the  foreground  and  as  essential  factors  in  the 
egotistic  ideal  of  these  individuals. 


PRACTICAL    PART 

CHAPTER  I 

AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  CRUELTY,  THE  DEROGATORY 
CRITIQUE  OF  THE  NEUROTIC,  NEUROTIC  APPERCEPTION, 
SENILE  NEUROSES,  CHANGES  IN  THE  FORM  AND  INTENSITY  OF 
THE  FICTION.  SOMATIC  JARGON  (ORGAN-JARGON) 

I  wish  to  speak  first  of  those  traits  of  character  which  may 
be  demonstrated  with  a  certain  regularity  in  all  neurotics,  and 
which  reach  expression  in  the  patient's  striving  with  great 
eagerness,  directly  or  circuitously,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
by  means  of  purposive  thinking  and  acting,  or  through  an 
especial  arrangement  of  symptoms,  towards  greater  possession, 
towards  a  heightening  of  his  power  and  influence,  towards  a 
degradation  and  belittling  of  others.  All  these  forms  of  self- 
interest  are  most  often  found  to  coexist,  and  it  is  only  after  a 
better  insight  that  one  recognizes  the  mighty  preponderance  of 
those  evasions  by  means  of  which  the  patient  deceives  himself 
and  his  environment.  He  even  deceives  also  science. 

While  playing,  for  instance,  the  role  of  unselfishness,  one 
finds  again  and  again  in  his  attacks,  in  his  neurosis,  moreover 
in  the  end  result  gained  by  means  of  the  latter,  that  exaggerated 
eagerness  of  which  we  have  spoken  in  the  beginning  : — 
He  thus  arouses  the  impression  of  a  double-ego,  of  one  suffering 
from  a  splitting  of  consciousness,  and  whereas  a  fictitious  goal 
permits  him  to  observe  secretly  more  rigidly  than  does  the 
normal  person  the  scheme  of  avarice,  envy,  desire  for  mastery, 
malice,  disputatiousness,  and  desire  to  please  (coquetry),  he  is 
compelled  in  the  open  (perhaps  also  on  account  of  his  desire  to 
please)  to  play  the  role  of  the  benefactor  and  patron,  of  the 
pacifier  and  unselfish  saint.  Not  that  this  play  is  usually  with- 
out disastrous  results,  somewhat  like  Gregor  Werles'  truth — 
fanaticism  in  Ibsen's  "  Wild  Duck."  One  cannot  estimate 
strongly  enough  the  neurotic's  mania  to  desire  possession  of 
everything,  his  eagerness  to  wish  to  be  the  first  one — cannot 
be  over-stated — even  though  the  obvious  traits  of  character 
furnish  the  most  contradictory  picture.  What  really  drives  the 
patient  onward  is  the  overweening  desire  for  absolute  power ; 
and  inasmuch  as  his  ego-consciousness  takes  offence  at  many  of 
his  means — inasmuch  as  the  power  of  others  may  prevent  his 

61 


62  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

triumph,  he  conceals  the  hindering  traits  of  character  from 
himself  and  others,  and  having  full  insight  into  his  hostile 
impulses  and  their  unpopularity,  he  allows  himself  to  be  guided 
in  the  open  in  his  conscious  activities  by  the  ideal  of  virtue. 
Notwithstanding  this,  however,  his  heightened  aggressive 
tendency  betrays  itself — namely  in  the  dreams  in  uncontrolled 
acts,  in  his  attitude,  mimicry  and  gesture — and  in  that  psychic 
being  ("  Geschehen  ")  the  expression  for  which  is  the  neurosis. 

Concerning  the  question  of  transmissibility  of  such 
characteristics,  yes,  also  their  antagonistic  arrangement,  there 
as  a  rule  develops  that  they  have  been  acquired  as  secondary 
guiding  principles  after  the  pattern  of  the  father,  the  mother, 
or  representative  persons  and  are  in  nowise  inherited.  The 
neurotic  psyche  finds  it  in  its  own  or  in  some  representative 
material,  for  the  purpose  of  which  the  "  double  play  " — the 
cleft  consciousness  of  society — is  utilized  in  many  cases.  It  is 
then,  however,  the  device  of  the  neurosis,  to  conceal  and  change 
those  hostile  aggressive  traits  which  are  frequently  unsuitable 
for  the  fictitious  purpose  of  obtaining  a  heightening  of  the 
ego-consciousness — and  to  obtain  the  latter  goal  through  a  more 
intensive  utilization  of  artifices — often  by  means  of  contrasting 
characteristics  and  neurotic  symptoms.  One  readily  becomes 
convinced  that  the  generosity  of  such  patients  obeys  the  same 
goal  of  the  "  will  to  power  "  which  the  patient  strives  to 
approach  also  through  the  heightening  of  his  aggressive 
tendency,  his  avarice  and  thriftiness. 

One  of  my  patients  who  came  under  my  observation  on 
account  of  stammering  and  depressive  states,  permitted  to 
appear  in  his  environment  a  detection  only  of  his  generosity. 
One  day  he  made  a  voluntary  bequest  to  a  certain  institute, 
and  told  'me  this  story  with  an  apparently  directly  associated 
statement  that  he  felt  unusually  depressed  that  day.  Along 
with  this  his  stammering  likewise  became  more  pronounced. 
The  exaggerated  state  of  his  neurosis  showed  itself  to  be  a 
result  of  his  generosity  as  result  of  which  he  feels  himself 
degraded  and  one  is  justified  in  expecting  a  revelation  of  the 
real  working  of  this  individual  in  further  acts,  thoughts  and 
dreams  as  running  with  the  developing  neurotic  symptoms — 
not  because  he  has  repressed  his  avariciousness  or  a 
corresponding  sexual  impulse — but  because  he  has  deviated 
too  far  from  his  goal — namely,  to  increase  his  possessions.  He 
must  therefore  do  something  which  will  bring  him  back  to  it. 
He  tells  me  further,  "  It  was  already  far  after  the  dinner  hour. 
I  felt  very  hungry,  and  besides  a  friend  awaited  me  in  a 
restaurant  where  we  were  to  dine  together.  I  had  to  walk 
therefore  the  (long)  distance  to  that  place.  My  friend  still 
waited.  After  dinner  I  felt  somewhat  better."  This  means 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          63 

that  he  began  at  once  to  save  again  and  made  the  journey  on 
foot,  notwithstanding  hunger,  depression  and  rendezvous. 
Incidentally,  he  was  able  to  let  the  friend  wait,  which  is  with 
many  neurotics  the  concealed  mode  of  asserting  their  desire 
for  dominancy. 

The  very  first  manifestation,  actions  and  communications  of 
the  patient  in  the  presence  of  the  physician,  frequently  contain 
the  most  important  of  the  disease  mechanism  and  character 
development.  This  is  so  because  the  patient  is  as  yet  not  in 
possession  of  cautiousness  in  the  presence  of  the  physician.  As 
the  above  quoted  patient  introduced  himself  to  me,  he  told  me 
casually,  that  his  father  was  not  well  to  do,  and  that  he  was 
unable  to  make  great  sacrifices  for  the  treatment.  After  a 
certain  time,  there  came  of  necessity  to  ligKt  that  he  deceived 
me  in  this  respect  in  order  to  obtain  a  smaller  charge.  He 
showed  himself  to  be  avaricious  also  in  many  other  respects, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  endeavored  to  deceive  both  himself 
and  others  in  this  respect.  Both  of  these  traits  were  also 
possessed  by  the  father,  and  our  patient  was  taught  stinginess 
by  the  latter  with  special  stress.  He  was  often  told  "  money 
is  might,  for  money  everything  can  be  had."  Thus  it  could 
not  be  avoided  that  our  patient,  who  was  already  in  childhood 
very  ambitious  and  tyrannical,  having  later  fallen  into  an 
uncertain  situation  and  believing  that  he  could  not  reach  the 
paternal  standard,  through  direct  means,  took  refuge  under  the 
pressure  of  his  ambitiousness,  in  the  device  to  convince  the 
father  of  his  utter  helplessness  and  of  the  other  failures  of  his 
educational  plans,  by  retaining  this  childhood  defect, 
stammering.  Through  his  stammering,  he  spoiled  his  father's 
play — because  he  was  not  able  to  be  the  first  one,  because  he 
was  not  able  to  surpass  the  latter. 

Our  culture,  however,  agrees  with  those  children  who  see  in 
the  amassing  of  fortune  the  road  to  power.  Similarly  led  on, 
this  "  will  to  power  "  assumed  the  external  form  of  stinginess 
and  avarice  in  so  far  as  he  further  developed  these  tendencies. 
It  was  only  the  contradiction  between  a  vulgar  avariciousness 
and  the  ego-ideal  which  forced  him  to  a  concealment  of  the 
impulse  to  avarice  by  means  of  which  he  wished  to  dominate 
his  father,  and  forced  him  to  the  substitution  of  the  stammering. 
In  the  further  course  of  the  analysis  the  origin  of  his  desire  for 
possession  became  evident.  He  suffered  practically  constantly 
in  his  infancy  from  stomach  and  intestinal  disorders,  which  were 
the  expression  of  a  hereditary  inferiority  of  the  gastro-intestinal 
tract.  In  the  family,  stomach  and  intestinal  disorders  played 
an  important  role.  The  patient  recalled  very  distinctly  how 
he  frequently  had  to  deny  himself  appetizing  food  in  spite  of 
hunger  and  desire,  whereas  his  parents  and  brothers  and  sisters 


64  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

consumed  them  with  pleasure.  Whenever  he  could  he  gathered 
foods,  bonbons  and  fruits  to  be  feasted  upon  later.  In  this 
tendency  to  gather,  we  already  see  the  influence  of  the 
developing  craving  for  security,  which  is  constantly  endeavoring 
to  adjust  in  some  way  or  other  the  feeling  of  degradation. 

How  far,  however,  this  may  reach  may  be  shown  by  a 
constructed  example  which  I  am  able  to  verify  with  analogies 
from  our  case.  The  eagerness  for  power,  and  through  it  for 
possession,  may  be  stirred  up  by  the  feeling  of  inferiority  to 
such  a  point  that  one  finds  it  at  phases  of  the  psychic  develop- 
ment when  one  would  least  expect  it. 

A  small  patient  of  this  sort  will  at  first,  it  is  true,  only  desire 
to  have  the  apple  which  is  forbidden  him,  in  seeing  his  father 
and  brother  eating  the  same..  Envy  will  begin  to  stir  itself,  and 
after  a  brief  period  such  a  child  may  have  reached  the  stage 
in  his  deliberateness  and  contemplation  when  out  of  the  striving 
for  equality  he  will  attempt  to  prevent  others  from  having 
anything  before  he  has  it.  It  will  soon  have  reached  so  far  in 
the  elaboration  of  this  albeit  only  slightly  important  idea,  as  to 
have  at  his  disposal  all  sorts  of  preparations  and  facilities,  it 
will,  especially  in  the  presence  of  an  originally  inferior  muscular 
system,  train  itself  for  the  whole  year  by  climbing  and  jumping 
in  order  to  be  able  to  climb  a  tree  as  a  master  in  the  fall.  The 
human  psyche  is  not  able  to  account  always  for  fictitious  goals, 
and  thus  the  child  may  apparently  free  himself  from  his  goal, 
employ  his  dexterity  in  sports  and  gymnastics  in  the  service  of 
other  tendencies,  which  serve  in  a  different  manner  his  ego- 
consciousness  somewhat  like  our  modern  States  conduct  our 
war  preparations  without  even  knowing  the  future  enemy. 

The  father  of  our  patient  may  have  easily  been  taken  by  the 
boy  as  an  incidental  example  because  he  excelled  his 
environment  in  greatness,  power,  wealth  and  social  standing. 
If  the  boy  is  to  emerge  out  of  his  insecurity  into  which  he  has 
been  plunged  by  his  constitutional  inferiority  he  must  arrange 
his  preparations  for  life  in  accordance  with  a  set  point  of  view 
as  after  a  plan  (blue  print).  A  marked  exhibition  of  the  guiding 
principle  toward  the  paternal  ideal  (Vaterideal)  is  in  itself  quite 
a  neurotic  trait,  because  in  it  we  may  comprehend  the  entire 
misery  of  the  child  who  endeavors  to  emerge  from  his  insecurity. 
The  craving  for  security  (Sicherungstendenz)  of  the  neurosis 
leads  the  patient  in  this  way  out  of  the  sphere  of  his  own  power 
and  forces  him  into  a  path  which  leads  away  from  reality,  first 
because  he  takes  for  his  object  his  fiction  to  be  equal  to  his 
father  or  even  to  excel  him  and  is  therefore  forced  to  formulate, 
arrange  and  influence  his  apperception  of  life  under  its? 
compulsion,  and  second  because  one  can  never  succeed  in 
carrying  out  such  a  fiction  in  real  life  except  in  a  psychosis. 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          65 

In  this  way,  there  develops  in  the  psyche  of  the  child  an 
intensive  searching,  weighing,  and  measuring  tendency  of 
which  I  shall  have  to  say  something  more.  That  which  is 
according  to  my  experience  primarily  responsible  for  the  too 
rigid  assumption  of  the  paternal  guiding  principles,  may  be 
discovered  in  an  investigation  into  the  sexual  roles.  The 
neurotically  predisposed  child,  or  as  I  may  say,  the  child 
laboring  under  the  pressure  of  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  desires 
to  become  a  man,  as  soon  as  the  neurosis  develops,  to  be  a  man. 
In  both  instances  he  can  only  conduct  himself  in  such  a  manner 
as  if  he  were  a  man  or  shall  become  one.  The  exaggerated 
craving  for  security  drives  also  in  this  instance  the  attitude  of 
the  developing  neurotic  into  the  ban  of  the  fiction,  so  that  in 
some  instances  even  conscious  simulation  may  come  into  play, 
and  a  girl  for  instance  in  order  to  escape  a  feeling  of  inferiority 
may  in  the  beginning  borrow  in  conscious  imitation  masculine 
gestures  of  her  father.  There  is  no  reason  for  the  assumption 
that  because  of  this  she  must  be  in  love  with  her  father.  The 
mere  over-valuation  of  the  masculine  principle  suffices  for  this, 
may  nevertheless  at' times  be  taken  as  infatuation  by  the  girl 
herself  as  well  as  by  her  environment,  should  the  preparations 
for  the  future  playfully  demand  a  hinting  of  love  or  a  marriage. 
In  our  case  the  guiding  line  to  the  compensatory  ego-ideal, 
transformed  itself  through  a  change  of  form  and  content  into  a 
craving  to  excel  the  father  in  wealth,  esteem,  and  along  with 
this,  in  manliness.  The  inquiry  into  his  own  sexual  role,  sets  in 
intensively  and  typically  as  sexual  curiosity,  whereby  the 
patient  in  his  feeling  of  inferiority,  apperceives  the  smallness 
of  his  infantile  genitals  as  compared  with  the  largeness  of  the 
paternal  ones,  as  a  bitter  set-back,  as  a  want  of  masculinity. 
His  ambitiousness  which  shall  enable  him  to  rise  out  of  his 
state  of  inferiority,  compelled  him  to  a  heightening  of  his  sense 
of  shame,  in  order  that  his  genitals  may  not  be  seen  in  the  event 
of  an  exposure  (in  case  he  is  nude).  To  this  may  be  added  that 
lie  was  of  Jewish  descent.  He  had  heard  certain  things  about 
circumcision  and  harbored  the  idea  that  he  was  also  (Verkiirzt) 
belittled  through  the  operation.  His  masculine  protest  drove 
him  to  a  degradation  of  woman,  as  if  he  had  to  give  proof  to 
liis  superiority  in  this  wise,  and  came  into  the  most  abominable 
relationship  with  his  mother. 

But  also  with  respect  to  his  father,  whose  preference  for 
"himself  he  gained  through  diplomatic  adjustment,  he  harbored 
"hostile  thoughts  which  became  especially  prominent  when  the 
father  over-emphasized  his  own  superiority  to  do  which  he  had 
a  marked  inclination.  In  this  chaos  of  feelings  the  patient 
sought  orientation,  and  found  it  only  in  the  thought  to  become 
superior  to  his  father,  to  become  more  mar.ly  than  he. 


66  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

He  had,  too,  as  often  happens  in  such  cases,  undertaken 
attempts  at  enlarging  his  genitals  or  bringing  about  erection. 
This  route,  which  leads  to  sexual  precocity  and  masturbation, 
was  soon  abandoned  by  him,  because  his  father  warned  him 
against  it  on  numerous  occasions.  Thus  there  remained  as  a 
substitution  for  his  masculine  protest,  only  efforts  to  become 
richer,  more  honored  and  wiser  than  his  father,  and  to  degrade 
his  environment. 

His  father  placed  great  hopes  in  the  patient's  oratorical 
talents,  which  had  shown  themselves  already  in  childhood,  did 
not  allow  himself  to  be  deceived  by  the  mild  stammering  of 
the  boy,  and  hoped  he  would  make  a  law  career.  In  this  respect 
the  patient  was  able  to  strike  at  the  father's  most  vulnerable 
point,  and  thus  he  sank  into  a  more  pronounced  stammering,  a 
neurotic  manifestation  of  the  insurance  against  the  superiority 
of  the  father,  a  manifestation  whose  inception  was  given  him  by 
a  stammering  home  teacher.  In  the  course  of  time,  this  symptom 
gained  many  other  uses,  for  example,  the  one  that  through  his 
stammering  he  always  gained  time  in  which  to  weigh  his 
words,  to  avoid  demands  of  the  family,  to  utilize  the  confession 
of  others  as  well  as  that  prejudice  because  of  which,  only  little 
was  expected  of  him,  which  he  then  managed  to  fulfil  easily. 
It  is  interesting  that  his  quite  apparent  stammering  was  no 
obstacle  to  his  courtship,  that  it  even  expedited  matters,  a  fact 
which  becomes  quite  comprehensible  from  our  standpoint, 
according  to  which  we  assume  the  existence  of  a  quite  prevalent 
type  of  girl  which  cannot  omit  from  the  conditions  of  their  love 
that  the  man  of  their  choice  must  be  beneath  them,  so  that  they 
may  with  certainty  rule  over  him.  Especially  hostile  feelings 
against  his  parents,  brothers  and  sisters  and  the  servants  he 
put  a  stop  to,  through  the  development  of  a  new  guiding 
principle  which  was  to  make  of  him  a  benevolent  man.  This 
new  evolution  took  place  under  a  nightly  confession  through 
which  he  reproached  himself  for  his  wickedness  and  arranged 
qualms  of  conscience.  His  growing  knowledge  thus  showed 
him  the  way,  through  a  cultural  subterfuge  to  a  heightening  of 
his  ego-consciousness. 

The  want  of  a  direct  aggressiveness  showed  itself  in  thoughts 
and  phantasies,  albeit  also  in  his  good  progress  at  school,  so  that 
he  was  victorious  over  all  his  classmates.  A  growing  tendency 
towards  sarcasm  and  exasperation  of  others  was  at  this  time  the 
only  manifest  expression  of  his  former  often  violent  aggressive- 
ness which  gained  for  him  the  nickname  of  "blood-leech."  His 
combative  attitude  played  an  important  r61e  in  the  cause 
of  Judaism,  which  was  reflected  in  an  act  of  compulsion  at  the 
age  of  twelve.  Whenever  he  entered  a  swimming  pool  he  had 
to  cover  his  genitals  with  his  hands  and  immediately  submerge 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          67 

his  head  under  the  water,  where  he  kept  it  until  he  counted  49. 
so  that  he  often  came  to  the  surface  gasping  for  air  and 
exhausted.  The  analysis  revealed  the  mental  content  to  be  a 
striving  of  his  phantasy  to  bring  about  an  equality  of  genitalia. 
The  forty-ninth  year  is,  according  to  the  old  Jewish  laws,  with 
which  he  had  become  acquainted  shortly  before,  the  year  of  the 
jubilee,  in  which  all  acres  were  again  made  equal.  Ideas  of  this 
sort,  and  the  simultaneous  concealment  of  the  genitalia  showed 
the  way  to  the  interpretation.  One  may  almost  draw  the 
conclusion  that  also  his  stammering  was  intended  to  make  him 
quits  with  a  superiority  of  his  father,  of  all  people,  inasmuch  as 
his  stuttering  was  an  obstacle  to  them,  was  even  painful  to  them. 

His  avarice,  his  stinginess,  were  accordingly  active  in"  the 
same  direction,  namely,  to  clear  the  field  of  superiorities  of 
others,  to  insure  him  against  further  degradation  and  belittling 
through  poverty,  thus  he  was  compelled  markedly  to  expand 
these  secondary  directions  and  to  formulate  and  evaluate  his 
experiences  according  to  them  in  order  to  reach  the  heightening 
of  his  ego-consciousness,  his  masculine  protest.  It  was  only 
under  such  circumstances  where  through  revelation  of  these  traits 
of  character  a  lowering  of  his  ego  might  arise  that  he  suppressed 
their  apparent  activity. 

It  were  an  absurdity  to  wish  to  assume  a  normal  standpoint  in 
a  medico-psychological  question,  to  consider  people  like  the 
above  as  morally  inferior.  Those  who  have  an  inclination  in  this 
direction  I  wish  to  remind  of  the  very  strong,  compensatory 
traits  of  character,  of  a  worthy  nature,  for  the  rest  I  wish  to 
remind  them  of  Rochefoucauld's  wise  sentence — viz  :  "  I  have 
never  investigated  the  soul  of  a  wicked  man,  but  I  once  became 
acquainted  with  the  soul  of  a  good  man  :  I  was  shocked." 

In  another  case,  the  nature  of  the  avarice  showed  itself  not 
as  a  safety  device  for  the  compensation  of  a  feeling  of 
degradation,  but  above  all  as  an  artifice  in  the  service  of  the 
craving  for  security.  A  forty-five  year  old  patient  who  suffered 
throughout  life  from  psychic  impotency,  and  was  pursued  by 
suicidal  ideas,  showed  an  especially  marked  tendency  to  degrade 
others. 

We  know  this  trait  of  character  from  the  description  of  the 
previous  case  where  it  served  as  it  always  does  to  do  away  with 
one's  own  feeling  of  inferiority.  With  this  tendency  there  is 
usually  associated  exaggerated  mistrust  and  envy,  which  have 
for  their  object  as  neurotic-psychic  dexterities,  the  falsification 
of  the  search  and  valuation  of  experiences.  A  tendency,  too,  to 
cause  others  bodily  and  psychic  pain,  will  likewise  know  how  to 
assert  itself  in  an  accentuated  manner.  The  abstract,  guiding 
point  of  view  of  the  patient,  to  assure  his  dominating  position, 
to  be  above,  appeared  to  be  obviously  threatened,  and  compelled 


68  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

a  strengthening  of  fictitious  guiding  principles.  Reminiscences 
out  of  his  infantile  period  were  utilized  in  the  neurosis,  as  result 
of  which  he  came  near  being  the  victim  of  a  homosexualist.  He 
was  raised  as  an  only  boy  among  his  sisters,  a  situation  which, 
according  to  my  experience,  frequently  narrows  the  understand- 
ing of  one's  own  sexual  role. 

Of  importance  was  his  attitude  toward  his  father,  because  it 
likewise  drove  him  to  strengthened  security  devices.  The  father, 
namely,  was  brutal,  egotistical,  tyrannical,  so  that  it  was  difficult 
for  the  boy  to  assert  his  own  value  in  his  presence.  Several 
love  adventures  had  thrown  the  father  into  quite  difficult 
situations  which  our  patient  utilized  as  mementoes  in  his 
developed  psychosis.  This  mistrust  was  directed  against  all 
women.  Throughout  life  he  remained  ready  to  make  sacrifices 
for  his  sisters,  but  he  had  already  apperceived  this  fact  with  an 
unusual  amount  of  feeling,  and  readily  developed  from  this  trains 
of  thought  which  were  to  show  how  readily  he  gave  in  to 
women.  Incidentally,  he  was  able  to  advance  quite  considerably 
in  this  direction  in  order  to  be  able  to  emphasize  sharply  this 
impression  for  himself.  It  was  then  that  he  was  prepared  to 
withdraw  himself  from  women. 

He  transformed  into  a  sexual  image,  feelings  of  inferiority 
which  were  present  in  his  childhood.  The  reason  for  his  unmanly 
bearing — for  the  homosexualist  wanted  to  take  him  for  a  girl — 
he  sought  for  and  found  in  an  incidental  Cryptorchism  caused  by 
a  patent  canal.  At  the  age  of  eight  he  watched  a  boy  in  the 
act  of  masturbation.  Hie  puef  ei  semen  efacularit  in  os — which 
he  looked  upon  as  a  further  sign  of  his  feminine  role.  So  long 
as  he  took  his  father  as  his  guiding  principle,  he  exhibited  the 
ordinary  dexterities  intended  to  make  him  equal  to  his  father. 
He  secretly  consumed  his  father's  whiskey,  endeavored  to  bring 
his  mother  over  to  his  side,  and  already  early  in  life  had  chosen 
his  father's  trade,  by  means  of  which  he  was  also  able  to  satisfy 
his  sadistic  tendencies  which  were  excited  by  his  feeling  of 
inferiority  and  his  striving  toward  the  paternal  guiding  line — to 
choose  the  trade  of  a  butcher.  He  was  also  fond  of  bringing  his 
vulgar  tendencies  into  execution  upon  girls  and  women — he  was 
in  the  habit  of  biting  them,  beating  them,  and  took  part  one 
time  in  a  sexual  assault,  when  he  carried  out  coitus  per  anum  in 
order  to  avoid  a  possibility  of  alimony.  His  experience,  however, 
which  showed  him  in  the  complete  brutal  character  of  his  father, 
drove  him,  because  of  the  threatening  of  a  lawsuit,  and  the 
degradation  associated  with  it,  to  a  neurotic  subterfuge.  He 
utilized  his  already  accentuated  mistrust  in  women  for  the 
purpose  of  torturing  them  with  fits  of  jealousy,  of  bringing  them 
entirely  under  his  influence  and  to  insure  in  this  manner  the 
appearance  of  dominancy. 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          69 

His  ejaculatio  prascox  and  the  associated  impotency  served 
his  need  for  security  in  the  same  manner  as  did  his  animosity 
towards  women.  He  showed  preference  for  the  seduction  of 
married  women  in  order  to  cause  them  disappointments  through 
his  impotency,  at  the  same  time,  however,  to  gain  in  a  sportive 
manner  a  substantiation  of  his  belief  that  all  women  were  bad. 
Also  in  his  compulsory  ideas  this  tendency  to  cause  pain 
manifested  itself.  Thus  even  during  his  treatment  he 
experienced  sudden  impulsions  to  bite  and  beat  a  language 
teacher  while  taking  a  lesson  from  her,  because  he  developed 
ideas  that  she  had  a  lover  whom  she  preferred  to  the  patient. 
This  sadistic  reaction  to  a  feeling  of  subordinacy,  as  a  masculine' 
protest  against  a  feeling  of  being  unmanly,  effeminate,  had  its 
origin  in  childhood  and  runs  through  his  entire  neurosis.  It  was 
not  difficult  to  prove,  that  his  impotency  similarly  obeyed  the 
goal  to  find  a  means  whereby  to  escape  the  call  of  love,  the 
subordination  to  a  wife,  a  tendency,  however,  which  found  its 
continuation  in  a  further  degradation  of  women. 

As  he  saw  no  prospect  of  dominating  his  teacher,  he 
immediately  left  her,  because  he  knew  that  she  was  dependent 
upon  giving  him  lessons.  Before,  however,  having  done  this  he 
undertook  a  critical  estimation  of  the  expense  of  taking  lessons, 
found  them  beyond  his  means  which  could  be  readily  seen  to  be 
a  false  purposive  valuation  of  the  very  well-to-do  individual.  In 
the  same  manner  he  made  use  of  the  occasionally  recurring 
reminiscences  of  incestuous  thoughts,  in  order  to  become 
apprehensively  conscious  of  his  inferiority,  of  his  criminal 
tendencies  as  soon  as  women  came  into  play.  Thus  he 
established  his  base  of  operation,  by  means  of  which  he  must 
insure  himself  against  the  feminine  gender,  as  a  result  of  which 
he  seemed  to  be  assured  of  lasting  superiority  throughout  life. 

The  essence  of  his  compulsion  towards  an  insurance  against 
women  lay  in  the  fear  that  he  might  experience  in  marriage  or 
love  disappointment  which  he  might  attribute  to  his  unmanliness. 
Inasmuch  as  he  sought  his  remote  goal  in  the  proof  of  his  might 
he  was  bound  to  become  inclined  toward  caution  and  neurotic 
subterfuges.  In  this  patient  also  there  were  present  early 
gastro-intestinal  disturbances,  and  as  a  peripheral  sign  of 
inferiority  the  fatal  inguinal  hernia.  In  his  sort  of  love-activity, 
exaggerated  avarice  lent  itself  as  the  most  useful  means  for  an 
insurance  against  a  too  far-reaching  surrender.  In  order,  how- 
ever, that  this  avarice  may  be  of  use,  it  must  embrace  the  whole 
sphere  of  his  life's  relations  and  must  be  omnipresent.  It  must 
in  turn  be  supported,  it  must  be  assisted  by  all  sorts  of  by-traits. 
This  took  place  among  other  things  in  the  arrangement  of 
compulsory  ideas.  Whenever  he  used  an  automobile,  the  thought 
that  a  collision  might  take  place  came  to  his  mind.  A  further 


70  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

analysis  of  this  compulsory  idea  revealed  that  he  was  farthest 
away  from  a  belief  in  such  an  eventuality,  but  that  he  always 
avoided  all  expensive  means  of  travel.  Yes,  even  when  he  used 
the  tram  cars  for  an  extended  trip,  the  thought  occurred  to  him, 
upon  reaching  the  point  where  the  cheap  fare  terminated  and  the 
more  expensive  one  began,  that  a  collision  might  take  place, 
or  that  the  bridge  which  had  to  be  crossed  might  collapse,  so 
that  he  would  always  pay  the  cheaper  fare,  save  a  few  pennies 
and  cover  the  rest  of  the  distance  on  foot.  He  was  on  the  road 
where  he  felt  bitterly  every  expenditure. 

Thus  it  also  came  to  pass  that  he  sought  to  degrade  man,  in 
order  to  gain  a  uniformity  of  behavior.  This  already  became 
distinctly  manifest  in  the  hunt  after  married  women,  and  the 
dismay  and  disappointment  of  the  seduced  women  as  well  as  the 
abusive  language  which  he  used  toward  them  afterwards  pleased 
him  no  less  than  the  satisfaction  of  once  again  having  shown 
himself  to  be  the  stronger.  This  was  in  line  with  the  content  of 
his  life,  with  the  change  of  form  in  which  his  original  fiction 
to  be  the  manliest  came  closest  to  realization. 

Only  the  fear  of  women  which  synchronously  with  the 
realization  of  his  own  femininity  originally  led  him  to  his 
exaggerated  masculine  protest,  found  itself  again  in  the  unduly 
accentuated  insurance  against  the  domination  of  women  and 
allowed  him  to  strengthen  beyond  measure  like  a  safety-dam 
his  mistrust  and  avarice,  both  of  which  offered  good  arguments. 
Swept  away  by  this  craving  for  security,  he  furthermore  attached 
4  to  it  his  psychic  impotency,  with  which  he  became  acquainted 
during  his  first  attempts  at  coitus.  A  servant  girl  whom  he 
wanted  to  seduce  as  a  youngster,  offered  resistance  and  escaped 
him  by  tightening  her  limbs.  He  was  at  that  time  inexperienced 
and  considered  himself  impotent.  Later,  as  he  became  more 
experienced  in  these  matters,  he  felt  his  inexperience  in  such  a 
way,  as  if  women  were  an  insoluble  puzzle  to  him.  In  the 
original  impotency,  however,  as  well  as  in  his  helplessness  in 
the  presence  of  woman,  he  found  the  neurotic  subterfuges  by 
means  of  which  to  escape  a  depreciatory  defeat,  a  decision 
adverse  to  his  masculinity.  The  comparing  of  himself  with  other 
men  set  in  vehemently  now.  He  would  surprise  himself  for 
instance,  when  sitting  at  the  table  in  company,  in  a  psychic 
situation,  where  before  any  one  even  had  spoken  a  word,  he  was 
already  planning  a  repartee,  already  figuring  how  he  might 
prove  the  speaker  wrong,  no  matter  whether  he  was  speaking  of 
a  book  or  a  theatrical  performance,  or  society  or  place,  his 
derogatory  criticism  always  pushed  itself  to  the  front  in  a  most 
pronounced  form.  And  so  it  was  to  be  expected  that  after  a  brief 
introductory  period  his  traits  of  mistrust,  avarice,  and 
depreciation  of  others  would  become  evident  every  time  he  under- 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          71 

went  medical  treatment,  often  quite  artfully  linked  one  with  the 
other.  This  phenomenon,  not  at  all  in  the  Freudian  sense  of  a 
transference,  but  because  his  rigidly  fixed  psychic  gesture,  his 
attitude  of  attack,  his  tendency  to  degrade  others,  actually  did, 
and  upon  closer  acquaintance,  was  obliged  to  come  to  the  surface. 
To  this  was  added  another  accentuating  moment.  His  object 
when  seeking  the  advice  of  a  physician,  could  not  have  been 
simply  to  become  rid  of  his  impotency,  laecause  in  such  an  event 
he  would  have  been  cast  into  the  chaos  of  his  apprehensions. 
He  was  much  more  anxious  to  find  proof  of  his  incurability,  or 
to  find  a  means  of  ridding  himself  of  his  impotency  without  the . 
fear  of  a  defeat.  In  order  to  bring  about  the  first,  a  depreciation 
of  the  physician's  ability  was  a  preliminary  condition.  The 
proper  means  of  ridding  himself  of  his  impotency,  however,  he 
could  only  find  after  following  up  his  fear  of  women  to  its  source, 
to  the  feeling  of  his  unmanliness,  in  which  his  feeling  of 
inferiority  became  concrete.  One  of  his  dreams  which  occurred 
at  the  period  preceding  the  termination  of  the  treatment  showed 
this  state  of  affairs  very  distinctly. 

I  must  first  of  all  briefly  state  that  I  make  use  of  certain 
important  parts  of  the  Breuer-Freud  technique  of  dream  inter- 
pretation, but  that  I  see  in  the  dream  an  abstracting,  simplifying 
endeavor  to  find,  by  means  of  a  premeditation  and  testing  of 
difficulties  carried  on  in  accordance  with  the  patient's  own 
peculiar  scheme — a  protective  way  for  the  ego-consciousness 
out  of  a  situation  which  threatens  a  defeat. 

One  will  therefore  always  discover  in  the  dream,  that 
significant  scheme  of  the  antithetical  mode  of  apperception  : 
"  masculine-feminine,"  "above — beneath"  as  existing  originally 
in  everybody,  but  especially  marked  in  the  neurotic.  The  various 
notions  and  recollections  which  come  to  the  surface  in  the  dream, 
must  be  brought  within  this  scheme  before  they  can  be  of  any 
aid  in  the  interpretation  of  same,  whose  object  it  is  not — or  at 
least  not  principally — the  fulfilment  of  infantile  wishes  but  rather 
to  accompany  those  introductory  endeavors,  to  bring  about  a 
balance  in  favor  of  the  ego-consciousness,  through  balancing  the 
patient's  debit-credit  account  in  a  peculiarly  neurotic  manner. 
His  dream  was  as  follows  : 

'  I  dealt  in  second-hand  goods  in  Vienna,  or  in  Germany,  or 
in  France.  I  had  to  buy,  however,  new  goods  and  wash  them, 
because  this  would  then  be  cheaper.  Then  they  were  again  old 
(second-hand)  goods." 

The  new  goods  meant  new  potent  genitalia  in  contrast  to  the 
"  (second-hand)  old  goods,"  his  impotency — which  as  yet 
nobody  had  cured.  Here  the  idea  of  a  new  life,  of  a  possibility  of 
attaining  potency,  shines  through.  The  words,  "  because  they 
would  be  cheaper  "  correspond  to  the  previously  elucidated 


72  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

ideas,  his  fear  of  money  expenditures  in  case  he  does  not 
become  potent.  This  idea,  however,  can  only  be  accepted  under 
one  condition,  to  wit — if  the  patient  is  saturated  with  the 
conviction  that  he  is  boundless  in  his  love-impulse,  that  he  knows 
no  limits  and  senselessly  hunts  after  women.  This  conviction 
he  purposely  takes  for  himself  out  of  his  childhood  reminiscences, 
out  of  his  period  of  puberty  and  adolescence.  In  doing  so  he 
also  assists  in  the  shaping  of  his  infantile  incest-stirrings  should 
these  serve  his  purpose  in  a  form,  as  if  he  had  coveted  his 
mother  or  sisters  with  a  sexual  object.  This  means  that  he 
works,  with  a  fiction  which  arose  from  the  assumed  goal,  through 
gaining  security  for  himself,  similarly  as  Sophocles  developed 
and  shaped  the  (Edipus  legend  in  order  to  stabilize  the  holy 
commands  of  the  gods.  Our  patient  became  a  willing  victim  of 
his  limited  understanding  of  dialectic  and  of  the  antithetical 
manner  of  primitive  thinking.  The  guiding  idea  of  his  ego-ideal 
"  I  must  not  covet  blood  relations,"  embraces  dialectically  the 
antithetical  thought  of  an  incestuous  possibility.  Inasmuch  as 
the  neurotic  desires  to  insure  himself,  he  clings  to  this  antithetical 
thought,  plays  with  it,  emphasizes  it  and  utilizes  it  in  the  neurosis 
in  the  same  way  as  all  other  frightening  reminiscences  which 
appear  to  him  to  be  useful  for  his  security.  In  the  life  of  our 
patient,  and  in  the  lives  of  all  neurotics,  there  are  very  many 
more  experiences,  which  might  have  been  able  to  carry  with  them 
the  conviction  that  they  were  free  from  incestuous  stimuli,  that 
they  were  always  especially  temperate,  careful  and  timorous. 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  he  desires  to  reassure  himself,  his 
neurotic  and  falsifying  mode  of  apperception  push  these  traits 
of  character  purposely  aside.  He  has  many  more  impressions 
to  that  effect,  that  he  does  not  covet  his  mother  and  sister,  but 
he  is,  however,  unable  to  utilize  them  in  the  service  of  his 
craving  for  security.  Thus  there  remains  for  them  only  a 
memory  rest  of  a  playful  preparatory  venture,  and  because  this 
may  serve  as  a  warning  to  him,  he  makes  of  it  a  bugbear,  with 
which  to  frighten  himself.  Exactly  in  the  same  manner,  develop 
neurotic  anxiety,  fear  of  places,  hypochondriasis,  pessimism  and 
constant  doubting,  inasmuch  as  these  patients  only  avail  them- 
selves of  those  impressions  and  experiences  which  serve  the 
purpose  of  bringing  about  security,  which  strengthens  their 
affective  state  while  they  depreciate  all  others  especially  those 
of  an  antithetical  nature.  The  sophist's  ability  "in  utram-que 
part  em  dicer  e"  of  everything  is  also  possessed  by  the  neurotic 
as  well  as  by  the  psychotic,  and  they  utilize  it  as  they  need  it. 

The  thoroughly  polished,  purposefully  strengthened  dexterities 
of  neurotics,  and  the  neurotic  traits  of  character  which  go  with 
them  are  impossible  for  the  fact  that  every  new  situation  brings 
about  havoc.  (Lombroso's  misoneismus.)  More  than  anything 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,  ENVY,  ETC.          73 

else,  our  patient  feared  the,  to  him  unknown,  situation  of  sexual 
gratification  and  successful  coitus,  because  in  presentiments  of 
this  situation,  he  gave  himself  for  reasons  of  safety  the  role  of 
the  underlying  (unterliegenden).  Now  this  fear,  which  is 
apperceived  as  a  fear  of  impotency,  furnishes  a  further  security 
against  the  possibility  of  being  restrained,  restricted  in  freedom 
or  deceived  by  his  wife,  against  a  possibility  of  not  being  equal 
to  her,  against  a  role  which  is  contrary  to  his  masculine  ideal, 
and  which  he  therefore  evaluates  as  effeminate. 

Out  of  the  harmless,  ubiquitous  traits  of  selfishness,  avarice 
and  stinginess,  he  puts  together  a  far-reaching,  apparently- 
imminent,  but  in  reality  fictitious  guiding  principle  of  "avarice," 
because  the  retention  of  this  appears  to  him  to  be  lost.  Should 
he  become  endowed,  as  was  the  case  in  the  dream  with  that 
which  he  had  desired  already  in  childhood,  namely,  new  genitals, 
a  healthy  potency,  then  he  must  defend  himself  against  it.  He 
takes  hold  then  of  a  means,  with  which  he  has  been  long 
acquainted,  which  has  often  been  highly  recommended  to  him, 
which  after  all  enfeebles  his  erections  instead  of  strengthening 
them, — he  turns  to  cold  washes.  This  according  to  his 
experiences,  inadequate  remedy,  he  considers  equal  to  my 
treatment.  The  remedy  shall  bring  about  the  opposite  to  what 
it  is  aimed  to  do,  and  this  physician  shall  have  just  as  little 
success  as  the  former  ones.  Thus  the  dream  shows  him  the  way 
out  of  the  situation,  it  tells  him  how  to  safeguard  himself  against 
the  treatment  and  thus  get  the  upper  hand  of  the  physician. 
'  Then  they  are  second-hand  goods  again." 

In  other  cases  of  psychic  impotency  a  cure  readily  results, 
and  as  we  know,  as  result  of  the  most  diverse  kinds  of  remedies. 
Often  it  concerns  neurotic  patients  who  by  the  mere  fact  of 
going  to  consult  a  physician  give  one  to  understand  that  they 
would  be  inclined  to  give  up  this  form  of  security.  In  that  case 
all  manner  of  medication,  cold  douches,  electricity,  hydrotheragy, 
and  especially  every  form  of  suggestion,  even  the  one  resulting 
from  an  incomplete  analysis  are  of  value,  occasionally  the 
authoritative  command  of  the  physician  suffices  to  bring  about 
definite  consequences.  In  severe  cases,  it  is  necessary  to  bring 
about  a  transformation  of  the  all  too  absorbing,  concentrated 
psyche  upon  the  idea  of  security. 

Age  often  intensely  stimulates  envy  and  avarice.  Psycho- 
logically this  is  not  difficult  to  understand.  No  matter  how 
beautifully  poets  and  philosophers  endeavor  to  picture  age,  it 
is  nevertheless  only  given  to  the  select  souls,  to  maintain  their 
equilibrium,  when  they  see  looming  up  in  the  distance  the  gate 
which  leads  to  death.  Then  again  the  denials  and  restrictions, 
which  the  senium  naturally  carries  with  it,  and  the  perceptible 
dominancy  of  the  younger  folks,  of  one's  own  relations,  which 

G 


74  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

often  furnish  the  occasion,  quite  innocently — or  apparently  so — 
for  a  degradation  of  old  people — will  almost  always  lead  to  a 
depression  of  the  ego-consciousness.  The  sunshiny  preparedness 
as  it  is  refreshingly  expressed  in  Goethe's  "  Father  Time  " 
is  a  quite  unattainable  illusion  for  most  people,  and  fortunate 
indeed  may  be  considered  those  who  survive  their  best  time  of 
life  without  a  severe  depression  of  the  spirits. 

According  to  our  thesis,  it  must  naturally  follow  that  the  period 
of  aging — brings  forth  similarly  to  a  severe  setback,  a  feeling  of 
inferiority.  Especially  affected  by  this  will  be  all  those  who  are 
neurotically  predisposed.  At  times  it  is  age,  in  women,  the 
climacteric,  feelings  of  insufficiency  of  a  psychic  or  physical 
nature,  indications  of  impotency,  a  breaking  up  of  the  family, 
marriage  of  a  son  or  daughter,  as  well  as  financial  losses,  the 
loss  of  a  position  or  post  of  honor  which  first  causes  the  break- 
down. In  most  instances  one  may  already  find  in  the  previous 
history  indications  of  actual  attacks  of  a  neurotic  character. 

Age  with  its  losses  has  the  same  effect  as  other  degradations 
of  the  ego-consciousness.  The  aggressive  tendency  seeks  other 
means  whereby  an  adjustment  may  be  brought  about,  other, 
means  which  unfortunately  are  not  easily  to  be  had  in  these 
cases.  Renunciation  would  come  easier,  if  along  with  the  sinking 
of  bodily  and  mental  power  there  would  also  take  place  a 
narrowing  of  the  emotional  life.  This  seldom  happens,  and  in 
order  to  find  a  substitute  for  the  loss},  the  aggressive  tendency 
which  has  been  stimulated  by  the  insecurity — again  whips  up  all 
stimuli  of  desire.  The  universal  decree  frequently  stands  all  too 
firm  against  all  these  endeavors.  The  bearing,  the  life,  the 
desires,  the  dress,  the  work  and  accomplishments  of  aging  people 
are  subject  to  criticism  in  a  great  measure.  Those  who  are 
predisposed  to  a  neurosis  will  readily  take  this  criticism  as  a 
barricade — and  will  already  shrink  from  those  situations  which 
still  offer  possibility  of  gratification.  Such  an  individual  will 
force  himself  into  submission,  will  want  to  annihilate  his  feelings 
and  desires,  without  being  able  to  set  himself  to  rights  with  them. 
Yes,  still  more  intensely  will  these  flare  up  when  a  renunciation 
without  adjustment  is  demanded. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  active  hostile  traits  of  character 
develop,  that  envy,  ill-will,  avarice,  the  craving  for  dominancy, 
sadistic  impulses  of  all  sorts,  experience  accentuations,  and 
never  satisfied,  bring  about  a  restlessness  which  unremittingly 
strives  for  remedies,  substitutions,  securities,  "  Where  you  are 
not — there  is  happiness  "  because  the  real  position  of  aging 
people  is  seriously  endangered  in  our  state  of  society,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  the  productive  value,  which  is  almost  exclusively  the  test 
of  the  worth  of  the  personality.  The  neurotic's  sustenance  (Brod) 
on  the  other  hand  is  the  appearance  of  power,  prestige,  even 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,  ETC.         75 

suicide  has  already  come  within    our    experience    as    the    last 
expression  of  masculine  protest. 

The  advent  of  senility  has  even  a  stronger  effect  upon  women 
than  upon  men.  Even  the  significance  of  the  climacteric  is 
usually  phantastically  exaggerated.  Youth  and  beauty  meant 
power  for  woman,  and  more  so  than  for  man.  Her  charms  were 
able  to  give  her  dominancy,  victories  and  triumphs,  for  which 
the  neurotic  greediness  constantly  longs. 

Age  to  them  is  like  a  stain.  Besides  their  value  sinks  more 
decidedly  than  is  the  case  with  the  aging  man,  and  as  far  as  it 
concerns  aging  woman,  prevailing  psychology  may  be  designated 
point  blank  as  actually  hostile. 

This  deplorable  feature  has  its  origin  in  the  well  known 
tendency  of  man  to  depreciate  woman,  coupled  with  the  psychic 
defeat  which  they  experience  from  our  social  life,  a  neurotic 
germ,  which  manifests  itself,  implacably  and  ineradicably  even 
unto  the  grave.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  often  unavoidably 
from  the  nature  of  things,  this  derogatory  tendency  has  its 
injurious  effect  upon  the  ego-consciousness  of  these  aging 
women,  who  after  all  have  a  right  to  live.  Children's  love  and 
respect  for  the  aged  as  aids  and  guiding  points  of  view  in  man's 
relations  with  his  fellow  men,  furnish  only  the  very  minutest 
relief  and  can  never  suffice  to  gratify  the  stimulated  desires  of 
people  whose  powers  are  waning.  It  is  then  that  the  neurotic 
bent  sets  in  for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  the  guiding 
principle.  "I  am  deprimed — I  had  too  little  out  of  life — I  shall 
realize  nothing  more,"  this  one  regularly  hears  in  the  complaints 
of  aging  neurotics,  and  they  accentuate  this  manner  of  viewing 
life  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  suspiciously  and  distrustfully  sink 
into  a  repulsive  egoism,  the  like  of  which  they  had  never  before 
experienced  so  vividly.  Through  this,  however,  the  vacillations 
and  doubts  become  stabilized. 

"  Act  as  though  you  were  still  obliged  to  attain  worth,"  thus 
approximately  rings  a  newly  constructed  guiding  principle,  and 
along  with  this  the  neurotic's  sharpening  of  avarice  becomes 
more  acute,  the  avaricious,  envious,  domineering  impulses  come 
violently  to  the  foreground,  almost,  however,  restrained  by  the 
previously  mentioned  guiding  principles  in  accordance  with 
which  these  patients  shrink  with  apprehension  from  every  desire 
and  beginning.  Thus  there  lie  unmistakably  under  cover, 
separated  with  difficulty  from  consciousness,  those  impulses 
which  lastingly  support  dissatisfaction,  impatience,  mistrust,  and 
•uninterruptedly  direct  the  attention  to  the  unattained  and  often 
unattainable.  In  the  last  instance,  to  the  success  of  which  the 
marked  adaptability  of  the  sexual  symbols  contributes  in  a  way, 
but  furthermore  also  the  fact  that  a  proof  of  a  lack  of  sexual 
gratification  is  readily  to  be  had  by  every  one,  it  therefore 


76  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

happens,  that  all  desire  becomes  sexualized.  It  is  readily 
understood  that  these  people  apperceive  on  a  sexual  basis.  But 
one  must  avoid  taking  this  sexual  fiction,  this,  so  to  speak, 
"modus  dicendi,"  or  as  I  have  called  it,  the  sexual  jargon,  for 
an  original  experience.  In  the  theoretical  part  I  have  discussed 
the  reasons  for  the  marked  prominence  of  the  sexual  guiding 
principle  in  neurotics,  first,  because  it,  like  all  other  guiding 
principles  is  considerably  accentuated  in  the  neurotic,  and  so  to 
speak,  felt  as  real  instead  of  what  it  was  intended  for — namely, 
as  a  protective  guiding  line — and  second,  because  it  (the  sexual 
guiding  principle)  leads  in  the  direction  of  the  masculine  protest. 

Thus  it  happens  that  every  desire  of  the  aging  neurotic 
woman  may  be  referred  not  only  by  herself,  but  with  a  little 
effort  by  the  physician  to  a  sexual  analogy.  Likewise,  that  the 
physician  may  be  able  to  fill  the  neurotic's  want  of  a  protective 
analogy,  by  means  of  a  premature  offering  of  a  sexual  guiding 
principle  in  the  sense  of  the  orthodox  Freudian  school,  may 
unquestionably  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  considerations. 

There  is  no  gain  so  long  as  one  does  not  succeed  in  ridding 
the  patient  of  his  fiction,  which  becomes  possible  when  he 
becomes  more  certain  of  himself,  and  is  able  to  recognize  his 
presumably  libidinous  impulse  as  a  falsifying  fiction. 

Such  a  fiction  for  instance  is  the  so-called  climacteric  of  the 
male,  of  former  authors,  described  by  Freud  and  Kurt  Mendel. 
The  climacteric  of  woman  has  its  psychic  effect  irrespective  of 
the  metabolic  phenomena,  because  of  the  heightening  of  the 
feeling  of  inferiority.  Concomitant  disturbances  of  metabolism 
are  only  able  to  change  or  intensify  the  neurotic's  aspect,  the 
moment  it  makes  itself  specifically  felt  through  an  intensification 
of  the  insecurity.  Basedow's  neurosis  in  climacteric  women ) 
furnishes  an  example  of  such  a  mixed  and  intensified  picture.  7 
The  neurosis  of  the  climacteric  in  man,  is  likewise  only  indirectly-' 
influenced  by  atrophy  of  the  genitals,  may,  however,  experience 
an  intensification  through  the  aggravating  abstraction,  "  I  am 
no  longer  a  man — I  am  a  woman."  Inasmuch  as  the  masculine 
guiding  principle  becomes  intensified  and  hypostasized  through 
carefulness  and  appropriate  stimuli  as  a  result  of  this  ideologic 
standpoint  those  wonderful  manifestations  of  the  Johannistrieb 
take  place,  the  frequent  occurrence  of  which  in  women  Karin 
Michaelis  has  aply  explained  in  her  "  Dangerous  Age." 

Only  that  the  sexual  guiding  principle  is  not  the  exclusive  or 
even  most  essential  one  as  it  is  attempted  to  infer  from  a  biologic 
point  of  view,  but  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  form  of  expression 
similar  to  other  forms  of  desire  if  one  is  to  face  the  facts  squarely. 

The  climacteric  neurosis  shows  us  accordingly  only  a  different 
phase  of  the  neurosis  caused  by  the  masculine  protest,  and 
the  traits  of  character  demonstrable  in  it  resemble  the 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,  ETC.         77 

hypostasizations  already  familiar  to  us.  I  have  never  seen  a  case 
where  the  neurosis  became  first  manifested  at  the  climacterium. 
And  it  is  to  be  expected  according  to  our  thesis  that  the 
"  climacteric  "  neurosis  had  already  shown  its  face  in  former 
days,  at  times,  in  a  mild  manner,  especially  when  favorable 
circumstances  or  cultural  activity  were  able  to  lessen  the  attack 
through  a  partial  gratification  of  the  craving  for  power.  Mostly 
one  finds  a  gradually  progressive  intensification  and  spreading 
of  the  neurotic  symptoms  of  some  years'  duration,  which  an 
antecedently  necessitated  intensification  of  the  craving  for 
security  permits  of  detection.  An  example  of  this  would  be  the 
transformation  of  headache  and  occasional  migraine  into  a 
trifacial  neuralgia.  On  the  intensification  of  a  neurotic 
cautiousness  into  anxiety  and  occasionally  through  the 
discounting  of  an  anticipated  disaster,  into  melancholy.  For 
these  three  steps  of  protection  one  must  consult  the  schema 
contained  in  the  theoretical  part. 

CAUTION  :  for  instance,  as  if  I  may  lose  my  money,  I  may 
be  beneath. 

ANXIETY  :  as  if  I  shall  lose  my  money,  I  shall  be  beneath. 

In  other  words,  the  stronger  the  feeling  of  inferiority,  the 
more  intensified  the  fiction  becomes  and  the  more  closely  it 
approaches  a  dogma,  through  an  increasing  abstraction  from 
reality.  And  the  patient  approximates  and  handles  everything 
which  brings  him  nearer  to  his  guiding  principle.  Reality  is 
along  with  this  depreciated  in  various  degrees,  and  the  corrective 
routes  become  more  and  more  inadequate. 

One  not  infrequently  sees  cases  in  which  there  come  to  light 
neurotic  phenomena  in  the  pathogenic  periods  already  known 
to  us  something  on  the  order  of  an  experiment.  Kisch  and  others 
have  called  attention  to  this  anamnestic  data  of  neurotic 
complaints  formed  at  the  onset  of  puberty.  More  frequently  one 
finds  in  the  anamnesis  neurotic  molimina  menstrualia,  or  neuroses 
before  entering  the  marriage  state,  in  the  puerperium,  or  even 
continuously. 

After  these  considerations,  we  shall  have  to  let  the  various 
guiding  principles  described  by  us  coordinate  themselves  with 
the  prime  guiding  principle.  The  neurosis  of  aged  people  is 
only  a  different  phase,  an  adaptive  psychic  superstructure  built 
up  upon  the  one  elementary  directive  principle — I  wish  to  be  a 
man.  And  this  directive  principle,  which  has  been  outrightly 
condemned  to  destruction,  avails  itself  of  all  manner  of  disguise, 
without  ever  finding  a  satisfactory  one.  Frequently  the 
impression  they  make  is  one  of  great  helplessness  of  resignation, 
as  though  the  patient  wanted  to  say  he  knew  not  how  to  go 
about  the  thing.  In  all  their  plans  doubt  is  prominent — vacillation 


78  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

never  leaves  them,  along  with  this,  however,  one  sees 
exaggerated  explanations  as  if  the  patients  wished  to  convince 
themselves  that  they  are  too  old,  or  that  they  are  still  young. 
The  tendency  is  toward  the  gaining  of  power,  influence,  worth. 
But  the  feeling,  that  they  want  the  unattainable,  never  leaves 
them.  In  the  dreams  one  regularly  finds  the  endeavor  to  assist 
the  masculine  protest  towards  expression,  to  be  young,  to  obtain 
sexual  gratification,  to  show  itself  in  a  nude  state,  always,  how- 
ever, albeit  at  times  well  masked,  the  desire  to  be  a  man.  Also 
the  traits  of  character,  the  secondary  guiding  principles,  show 
the  influence  of  the  craving  for  security. 

Pedantry,  avarice,  envy,  craving  for  dominancy,  and  the  desire 
to  be  popular,  manifest  themselves  often  in  this  disguised 
manner.  Anxiety  is  frequently  found,  it  seems,  as  proof  that 
they  cannot  be  alone.  And  in  consummation,  the  neurotic 
symptoms  force  the  entire  household  under  the  regime  of  the 
patient.  Often  the  attempt  is  made  in  a  more  or  less  timorous 
concealed  manner  to  realize  a  certain  wish,  as  though  in  that 
event  the  masculine  protest  wrere  assured. 

Frequently  this  wish  manifests  itself  in  a  desire  for  divorce. 
or  to  move  to  a  large  city,  or  to  humiliate  the  sons-in-law  or  the 
daughters-in-law  as  if  tranquillity  might  be  hoped  for  in  that 
event. 

Difficulties  in  taking  food,  or  in  emptying  the  bowels,  or 
fragmentary  manifestations  of  imaginary  pregnancies  and  child- 
births  are  not  rare.  Along  with  this  they  bring  into  use 
forgetfulness,  tremulousness,  here  and  there  an  occasional 
traumatic  incident,  all  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  the  attention 
of  themselves  and  others  their  growing  helplessness. 

Complaints  constantly  recur,  every  unpleasant  incident  serves 
a  special  significance,  and  their  thoughts  are  constantly  directed 
toward  an  approaching  evil.  The  demonstrative  emphasizing  of 
their  suffering  and  their  hesitating  attitude  serve  on  the  one 
hand  to  throttle  their  social  circle,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
useful  for  the  initiation  of  their  withdrawal  from  society  in  the 
event  of  a  painful  anticipation  of  a  setback.  Psychologically  this 
complaint  may  also  be  looked  upon  as  a  form  of  the  revolt,  of 
the  masculine  protest  against  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  it  is 
intended  to  soften  and  weaken  those  about  them. 

Treatment  meets  with  considerable  difficulties,  inasmuch  as 
the  attainment  of  independence  is  much  more  difficult  in  advanced 
age,  and  promising  predictions  cannot  be  so  plausibly  made.  As 
always  is  the  case,  the  personality  of  the  psychotherapeutist  as 
well  as  any  actual  or  possible  successes  of  his  are  utilized  to  spur 
on  envy,  and  thus  it  frequently  happens  that  improvements  serve 
to  give  rise  to  relapses.  Then,  too,  the  readily  attainable 
authority  over  them  serves  to  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  these 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,    ENVY,   ETC.         79 

patients,  inasmuch  as  never  in  their  life  were  they  able  to  adjust 
themselves  readily  or  what  is  more,  subordinate  themselves.  As 
a  last  refuge  in  severe  cases,  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  physician 
following  a  thorough  analysis  recommends  itself,  so  that  one  is 
obliged  to  own  up  to  an  apparent  failure  of    his    part    of    the 
treatment,    and  offer  the    laurels    to    some    other    therapeutic 
method.     In  two  of  my  cases,  this  expedient  justified  itself  :-in  • 
the  one  case  the  patient,  a  female,  was  cured  through  the  medium  / 
of  correspondence  by  a  Bosnian  country  physician  ;  in  the  other,  \ 
a  case  of  trifacial  neuralgia  of  long  standing  which  I  had  been 
treating  for  two  years  with  varying  success,  recovered  following  I 
suggestions  given  against  me  in  the  wakeful  state.     In  most  of  { 
these  cases,   considerable  improvement,    remissions,     or    even/ 
complete   recoveries  set  in  of  their   own    accord    following   the 
termination  of  the  treatment. 

One  of  my  patients,  a  fifty-six-year-old  lady,  had  been 
suffering  for  eighteen  years  from  anxiety  states,  dizziness, 
nausea,  abdominal  pains  and  severe  obstipation.  A  considerable 
portion  of  this  period  was  spent  either  in  bed  or  lying  on  a  sofa, 
especially  during  the  last  eight  years,  when  severe  pains  in  the 
back  and  limbs  added  to  her  complaints.  The  patient  had  been 
previously  a  robust  woman,  but  at  the  age  of  eighteen  had 
apparently  suffered  for  months  from  joint  rheumatism. 

Her  present  condition  appeared  to  be  psychogenetic  in  nature, 
inasmuch  as  there  was  an  absence  of  corresponding  organic 
changes,  and  the  protective  traits  of  character  l  discovered  by 
me  were  easily  demonstrable. 

The  advice  of  a  Hysterectomy  by  a  prominent  gynecologist 
because  of  some  perimetritic  adhesions  I  did  not  take  into 
account  since  I  have  learned  to  understand  from  other  cases,  the 
etiologic  significance  of  such  maiming  procedures  in  the  neuroses 
influencing  as  they  do  the  psyche  indirectly. 

Changes,  manifestations  of  arrests  of  development, 
deformities  and  disease  of  the  genitals  are  frequently  found  in 
neurotics.  A.  Bossi  certainly  is  correct  in  emphasizing  this 
relationship  as  I  had  already  done  before  in  my  "  Studie 
(1907).  This  relationship,  however,  lies  either  in  the  adjustment 
of  a  special  feeling  of  inferiority  which  in  the  presence  of  a 
neurotic  predisposition  gives  occasion  for  the  development  of 
a  neurosis  or  because  the  neurosis,  developed  as  result  of  other 
causes,  requires  a  protective  allusion  to  an  organic  change,  in 
order  to  start  upon  the  road  the  fixed  goal  of  the  masculine 
protest. 

1  The  differential-diagnostic  significance  of  these  is  beyond  doubt.  Only 
one  must  regularly  take  into  account  the  simultaneous  existence  of  an  organic 
affection. 


8o  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

Sexual  inferiority  becomes,  so  to  speak,  the  vehicle  which 
especially  forces  itself  upon  one's  attention  when  slight  changes 
or  even  wholly  imagined  fictitious  ones  such  as  a  supposed  loss 
of  the  clitoris,  enlargement  of  the  labia-majora,  moistening  of 
the  apertures,  telling  evidences  of  masturbation  or  anomalies  of 
the  hairy  growth,  phimoses,  paraurethral  passages  and 
asymmetric  posture  of  the  penis  or  testicles,  or  cryptorchism  are 
taken  as  an  occasion  for  a  symbol  of  the  feeling  of  inferiority. 

This  patient's  disease  began  during  a  game  of  tennis.  One 
year  before  this  one  of  her  daughters  died,  and  her  husband,  a 
great  lover  of  children,  wished  to  have  more  children.  The 
patient  who  from  her  earliest  childhood  had  bewailed  her  lot, 
and  wished  to  be  a  man,  was  not  at  all  inclined  to  gratify  this 
wish  of  her  husband.  The  pain  which  was  probably  caused  by 
a  twist  gave  her  new  food  for  this  indistinctly  conscious 
resistance,  since  that  time  she  could  not  stand  any  pressure  on 
the  abdomen,  her  abdomen  became  for  her  a  dainty  part  and  by 
means  of  a  further  bringing  into  use  of  insomnia  and  nausea,  the 
latter  as  a  memento  of  pregnancy,  she  brought  matters  to  a 
point  where  the  husband,  upon  the  advice  of  physicians, 
abandoned  sexual  concourse  with  her,  and  used  a  separate  bed- 
room. 

Already  her  recital  with  reference  to  the  rheumatism  was 
characteristic.  She  blamed  her  dead  mother  for  everything. 
The  latter,  she  complained,  forced  her  to  wash  and  iron  in  the 
paternal  home,  always  slighted  her  before  the  other  sisters,  and 
even  in  later  years  she  was  treated  in  the  same  hard-hearted 
manner.  This  woman's  greediness  brought  her  into  some 
difficulties.  But  her  troubles,  however,  she  attributed  to  her 
father,  so  that  the  latter  also  received  his  share  of  the  blame. 

Such  reproaches  against  the  parents  regularly  draw  attention 
according  to  my  experience  to  another  kind  of  reproach  which 
the  child  is  secretly  making  against  the  parents,  when  it  finds 
itself  incomplete,  or  what's  more,  unmanly.  Such  reproaches 
become  abstract  later  on,  as  I  have  shown  it  to  be  likewise  true 
of  the  feeling  of  guilt,  and  in  later  life  serve  the  purpose,  so  to 
speak,  of  shells  to  be  filled  up  with  different  content.  Thus  it 
later  on  sounds  as  if  the  parents  were  not  affectionate  enough, 
or  that  they  pampered  the  child,  or  that  especially  during  the 
masturbation  period  they  did  not  supervise  him  sufficiently.  In 
short,  we  observe  in  these  formulations  of  an  attitude  towards 
the  parents  and  later  on  towards  the  world,  formal  changes  such 
as  are  in  line  with  guiding  principles  which  are  to  serve  a 
practical  purpose,  and  we  frequently  see  a  different  guise  cut 
according  to  the  pattern  of  the  actual  situation.  It  is  then 
necessary  to  retrace  the  steps  covered  by  the  formal  change. 
Here  the  analvtical  method  makes  use  of  the  medium  of  reduction, 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,   ETC.        81 

of  simplification  (Nietzsche)  of  abstraction.  Along  with  the 
formal  change  accentuations  or  attenuations  of  the  guiding  fiction 
play  an  important  role.  The  more  insecure  the  patient  feels 
himself,  the  more  he  is  driven  by  an  unconscious  tendency 
towards  an  intensification  of  his  guiding  principle,  to  make 
himself  dependent  upon  it.  I  readily  follow  here  the  worthy 
views  of  Vaihinger,  who  maintains  for  the  history  of  ideas,  that 
historically  considered  they  show  a  tendency  to  grow  from  a 
fiction  (an  unreal  but  practically  useful  safety-device)  to 
hypotheses  and  later  to  dogmas.  This  change  of  intensity 
characterizes  in  a  general  way  individual  psychology,  the 
thinking  of  the  normal  individual  (fiction  as  an  expedient)  of  the 
neurotic  (attempt  to  realize  the  fiction)  and  of  the  insane 
(incomplete  but  protective  anthropomorphism  and  realization  of 
the  fiction  :  dogmatization). 

The  stronger  inner  need  seeks  adjustment  through  an  inten- 
sification of  the  assuring  guiding  principles.  We  shall  therefore 
regularly  find  equivalents  of  the  neurotics'  and  psychotics' 
guiding  principles  and  characteristics  in  the  normal  individual, 
which  in  the  latter  may  become  corrected  in  order  that  they  may 
be  able  to  approach  reality  without  contradiction.  If  we  were 
to  reduce  the  manifest  guiding  principles  of  this  patient,  and  free 
them  of  the  various  changes  of  form  and  intensity  which  they 
have  undergone,  so  that  we  may  take  them  in  the  original,  not 
in  the  form  developed  later  on,  it  would  read,  "  I  am  a  woman 
and  want  to  be  a  man."  The  normal  individual,  too,  adjusts 
himself  throughout  life  in  accordance  with  this  formula.  It  aids 
him  in  attaching  himself  to  our  masculine  culture,  yes,  it  furnishes 
the  latter  with  a  steady  impetus  towards  masculization 
(Vermannlichung).  But  here  it  plays  a  role  similar  to  the 
Hilfslinie  in  a  geometric  construction.  So  soon  as  the  object,  a 
higher  manly  niveau  is  attained,  it  is  lost  from  consideration 
(Vaihinger).  Concerning  the  myth,  a  guiding  principle  of  the 
race,  Nietzsche  laments  its  transformation  into  the  fairy  tale  and 
demands  a  transformation  into  the  manly  (Mannliche).  The 
neurotic  emphasizes  this  fiction,  takes  it  altogether  too  literally, 
and  endeavors  to  bring  about  its  realization. 

His  object  is  not  the  dovetailing,  the  adjustment  of  his 
masculine  prestige,  but  to  give  it  value,  which  is  mostly  unattain- 
able in  its  overstrained  form  or  because  of  intrinsic  contradictions 
in  the  masculine  protest,  or  is  hindered  in  its  attainment  because 
of  the  fear  of  a  threatening  defeat,  the  patient  still  remaining 
ignorant  of  the  significance  and  scope  of  his  largely  unconscious? 
fiction.  But  his  more  intense  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  inferiority 
also  hinders  him  in  the  proper  estimation  of  his  fiction.  The 
insane  man  conducts  himself  as  if  his  fiction  were  a  reality.  He 
acts  under  the  most  intense  urgency  and  delivers  himself  unto 


82  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

his  self-created  deity,  which  he  apperceives  as  real.  In  a  similar 
manner  he  simultaneously  feels  himself  to  be  woman  and 
superman,  the  latter  as  a  reaction  of  the  exaggerated  masculine 
protest.  The  splitting  of  the  personality  corresponds  to  the 
psychic  hermaphroditism,  the  formal  change  being  a  manifold 
one,  manifests  itself  for  the  instant  in  the  combination  of  ideas 
of  persecution  and  grandeur,  of  depression  and  mania,  whereas 
fixation  as  self -protection,  is  made  facile  through  a  relative 
insufficiency  or  absolute  weakness  of  the  corrective  paths.  If 
one  were  to  remove  from  Freud's  equation  of  dementia 
("Yearbook,"  Bleuler-Freud,  1911)  the  introduced  sexualization, 
if  one  were  to  shorten  it  on  both  sides  of  the  superfluous  libido 
factor,  our  much  more  profound  formula  of  the  psychic  herma- 
phroditism with  the  masculine  protest  comes  to  the  surface, 
against  which,  missing  entirely  its  true  significance,  Freud 
argues  in  his  work. 

To  come  back  to  the  case  history,  it  still  remains  to  be 
mentioned  that  our  patient  in  her  feeling  of  insufficiency  brought 
forth  various  forms  of  the  masculine  protest.  Thus  she  was 
unable  to  bring  herself  to  remain  tolerant  of  men's  accomplish- 
ments. In  this  regard,  she  could  be  quite  critical,  especially 
when  some  one  tried  to  overestimate  himself.  In  these  cases  it 
not  infrequently  happens  that  physicians  with  a  self-confident 
demeanor,  which  appears  to  be  an  essential  to  some  in  the 
treatment  of  disease,  are  antagonized  by  the  patient  with  neurotic 
impetuousness  and  with  the  same  means.  In  this  case,  she  was, 
aside  from  this,  naturally  guided  by  a  sort  of  instinct  which 
forbade  her  to  adopt  the  physician's  instructions,  out  of  respect 
to  the  purpose  of  her  disease.  But  at  times  matters  reached 
a  point  where  a  harmless  gain  of  influence  over  her  by  the 
physician  was  responded  to  by  vomiting  and  nausea,  in  connection 
with  which  the  patient  never  missed  a  chance  to  call  attention 
to  the  unsuccessful  effort  of  the  physician.  One  need  not  lose 
one's  tranquillity  on  account  of  this  sort  of  manifestation,  one 
must  rather  see  in  them  a  part  of  the  entire  whole,  a  formal 
change  of  the  original  envy  of  man  and  later  of  every  one  believed 
to  be  superior. 

Along  with  this  our  patient  made  extensive  use  of  certain 
privileges  given  her  by  her  illness.  First  of  all  she  was  able 
to  withdraw  herself  as  much  as  she  wished  to  from  the  social 
duties  imposed  upon  her  by  the  role  of  housewife  and  important 
personage  of  a  provincial  city. 

'Tis  true  she  received  visitors,  to  whom  she  complained  of 
her  sufferings,  but  only  exceptionally  returned  a  call,  thus 
assuring  herself  as  is  the  case  regularly  with  neurotics,  of  a 
favored  and  privileged  position.  Along  with  this  it  was  possible 
to  avoid  comparisons  and  musterings,  in  one  sense  also  trials. 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,    ENVY,   ETC.         83 

occasions  for  which  social  activities  furnish  as  a  rule.  Of  late 
years  she  has  besides  been  frightened  by  the  idea  that  she  was 
being  robbed  as  a  result  of  her  growing  age,  of  the  possibilities 
of  wielding  influence  over  men.  A  lady  friend  demonstrated 
to  her  very  intimately  how  ridiculously  society  looks  upon 
youthful  conduct  in  an  aging  woman.  Thus  she  decided  by  her 
way  of  dressing  to  lay  special  emphasis  on  her  age,  but  at  the 
same  time  the  bitter  thought  crowded  itself  to  the  surface  of 
her  consciousness  that  men  of  her  age  are  by  no  means  pushed 
into  the  corner.  . 

At  all  times  she  felt  bitterly  the  fact  that  she  had  to  spend  her 
life  in  a  provincial  city.  Instinctively  she  strove  in  many,  ways 
for  a  removal  to  Vienna.  However,  this  was  not  to  be  attained 
in  an  open  battle  with  her  husband,  who  was  many  years  her 
senior,  because  he  disarmed  her  with  his  inexhaustible  affection 
and  his  compliance  in  all  other  matters.  She  quarrelled  most 
bitterly  with  her  brother  and  affected  an  unbelievable  anxiety 
at  meeting  this  brother  in  this  small  town.  When  this  did  not 
suffice  to  bring  about  her  object,  she  developed  a  most  obstinate 
insomnia,  as  the  most  important  cause  of  which  she  blamed  the 
nightly  rattling  of  wagons  before  the  windows  of  her  bedroom. 
Thus  she  brought  about  a  temporary  removal  to  Vienna,  acquired 
a  home  in  the  neighbourhood  of  her  daughter,  the  heavenly 
peacefulness  of  which  she  constantly  emphasized,  and  where  she 
likewise  regained  her  sleep. 

Ever  since  her  daughter  had  lived  in  Vienna,  the  small  pro- 
vincial city  had  become  progressively  more  obnoxious  to  her. 
The  analysis  revealed  in  accordance  with  the  other  directive 
principles  that  she  intensely  envied  her  daughter's  prestige 
with  which  there  was  also  associated  an  aristocratic  predicate. 

She,  too,  wanted  to  live  in  Vienna,  and  would  have  brought 
this  about  long  ago,  had  not  a  new  danger  threatened  her  in 
Vienna,  namely,  to  have  to  cover  her  daughter's  expenses  with 
her  own  means. 

The  rivalry  with  this  Viennese  daughter  was  wholly  contained 
in  her  unconscious,  and  corresponded  with  an  infantile  guiding 
line,  the  wish  to  surpass  her  pampered  older  sister.  This  guiding 
principle,  too,  was  found  to  be  an  equivalent  of  the  basic  one, 
which  strove  toward  the  attainment  of  greater  worth,  as  if  she 
were  a  man. 

On  account  of  the  heavy  expenditures  which  her  residence  in 
Vienna  imposed  upon  her  there  arose  a  contradiction  in  her 
masculine  protest.  The  neurotic  with  his  torturing  feeling  of 
inadequacy  does  not  allow  anything  to  be  taken  from  him  without 
suffering  for  it. 

He  apprehends  a  further  belittling  (Verkurzung)  as  a  lowering 
of  his  ego-consciousness  and  along  with  his  guiding  principle  in 


#4  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

such  a  way  as  if  this  were  a  castration,  an  effeminization,  a  sexual 
assault  at  times  also  in  the  image  of  a  pregnancy  or  birth." 

In  our  case  the  analogous  sensations  of  pregnancy  came 
especially  to  the  surface,  nausea,  abdominal  cramps  and  fixed 
ideas  of  an  existing  pregnancy  made  themselves  felt,  pains  in 
the  limbs  represented  a  phlegmasia  alba  dolens,  whereas  an 
obstinate  obstipation  symbolized  in  part  a  vaginismus  in  the  anal 
language,  in  part  attempting  to  prevent  expenditures 
symbolically,  and  thirdly  attempted  to  express  the  impossibility 
of  an  independent  conduct. 

A  more  profound  understanding  of  the  mode  of  expression  of 
the  neurosis  appears  to  me  to  be  impossible  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  "  organ-jargon  "  discovered  by  me.  Folklore 
takes  cognizance  of  this  in  the  expression  of  popular  speech  and 
custom.  Freud  misunderstood  this  jargon,  and  has  created  out 
of  its  constructions  the  mainstay  of  his  libido-theory,  namely  the  - 
theory  of  the  erogenous  zones.  Especially  his  work  on  the  anal 
character  and  analerotic  is  full  of  a  strained  and  overworked 
phantasy.  The  point  of  outset  is  the  relative  inferiority  of  certain 
organs,  the  attitude  of  the  environment  towards  the 
manifestations  of  these  organs  as  well  as  the  mass- 
impressions  of  the  two  upon  the  soul  of  the  child. 
Neurotically  predisposed  children  will  endeavour  to  associate 
with  suitable  manifestations  of  their  organ-inferiority  especially 
with  defects  of  childhood,  those  traits  of  character  which 
have  their  origin  in  their  protesting  ego-consciousness, 
such  as  obstinacy,  greater  need  of  affection,  exaggerated 
cleanliness,  pedantry,  anxiousness,  ambition,  envy,  revenge- 
fulness,  etc.,  in  order  to  gain  an  especially  effective 
representation.  One  of  my  psychogenic  epileptics  utilized  for 
the  purpose  of  strengthening  his  masculine  protest  such  a 
device,  an  interlacing,  so  to  speak,  inasmuch  as  he  managed  to 
have  most  of  his  attacks  preceded  by  an  attack  of  obstipation  in 
order  to  arouse  anxious  forebodings  in  his  relatives  and  thus  bring 
himself  to  their  notice  in  the  event  of  a  degradation. 

Obstinacy  and  infantile  negativism  may  already  be  well 
developed  towards  the  end  of  the  nursing  period.  It  is  the 
association  of  these  anomalies  of  urination,  defecation,  and  eating, 
which  gives  rise  to  the  heightened  "  reasoning."  The  child 
who  abstains  from  emptying  his  bowels  derives  his  pleasurable 
sensations  not  from  an  irritation  of  the  rectum,  but  from  the 
satisfaction  of  his  obstinacy  which  avails  itself  of  this  unaesthetic 

2  Thus  it  is  that  the  thought  process  takes  place  not  along  reality,  but 
depends  on  analogous  symbols,  whose  falsifying  affective  accompaniment 
heightens  the  aggressive  preparedness  of  the  neurotic.  The  latter,  however, 
corresponds  to  the  unconscious,  guiding  "opinion."  This  disguise,  the  symbol, 
the  analogy  are  as  a  device  in  the  service  of  the  aggressiveness  to  which  the 
ego-ideal  of  the  neurotic  compels. 

The  woman  as  a  Sphinx,  the  man  as  a  murderer,  etc. 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,  ETC.         85 

means,  but  may,  however,  attribute  a  pleasure-quality  to  rectal 
sensations  for  years,  up  to  the  curing  of  his  obstinacy. 

The  mother  of  a  nearly  two-year-old  girl  who  was  still  suffering 
from  bed-wetting  told  me  that  she  had  frequently  observed  that 
when-  awakened  from  her  sleep  her  child  would  attend  properly 
to  the  emptying  of  the  bladder,  providing  she  was  still  in  a  half- 
wakeful  state  only,  but  no  sooner  did  she  become  fully  awake 
than  she  refused  to  do  so.  If  the  child  became  fully  awake 
towards  the  end  of  the  urination,  she  upset  the  urinal  and  cried 
a  long  time  out  of  rage  at  being  thus  taken  unawares  ;  if,  on  the* 
other  hand,  she  still  continued  half  asleep  she  turned  over  and 
went  fast  asleep.  Thus  we  may  find  in  every  case  that  from  the 
very  earliest^period  of  existence  the  ego-consciousness  of  the 
child  finds  itself  in  a  manifest  and  latent  contrast  with  its 
environment,  that  it  assumes  a  most  pronounced  attitude  of 
hostility  and  belligerency  until  it  finally  brings  about  a  uniform 
termination  of  all  these  aggressive  stimuli,  until  it  constructs 
these  into  the  masculine  protest  which  it  brings  in  opposition 
to  the  stimuli  of  tenderness,  subordinacy,  and  weakness,  as  well 
as  to  the  manifestations  of  inferiority,  all  of  which  it  collectively 
apperceives  and  combats  as  symptoms  of  femininity.  Only  that 
at  times  an  interlacing  and  intertwining  takes  place,  where  the 
masculine  protest  lays  stress  upon  feminine  symptoms  in  order 
to  utilize  them  as  a  bugbear,  or  where  he  obstinately  retains 
feminine  symptoms  and  this  makes  possible  the  development  of 
hermaphrodistic  constructions  which  likewise  exert  their  influence 
in  the  direction  of  the  masculine  protest.  For  example,  tears, 
indispositions,  simulations  and  exaggerations  of  childhood 
defects.  The  overaccentuated  guiding  principle,  namely,  "  I 
wish  to  be  a  man,"  enlists  then  within  its  ranks  all  utilizable 
bodily  symptoms,  particularly  those  manifestations  of  inferiority 
upon  which  the  attention  of  the  patient  as  well  as  that  of  the 
environment  is  especially  directed. 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  masculine  protest  makes  use  of  a 
somatic  language  "  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  expression.  A 
beautiful  example,  one  which  frequently  recurs  in  neurotic 
phantasies,  is  that  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  childhood  phantasy  : 
"A  vulture  repeatedly  shoved  its  tail  into  his  mouth."  This 
phantasy  carries  the  artist's  psychic  constellation  to  a  most 
accurate  abstraction.  Mouth  phantasies  are  regularly  related  to 
manifestations  of  inferiority  in  the  child's  gastro-intestinal  tract. 
Leonardo's  inclinations  to  a  science  of  nutrition  were  most  likely 
the  fruits  of  the  attention  directed  to  these  channels. 

The  tail  of  the  vulture  is  a  phallic  symbol.  A  summing  up  of 
these  two  trends  brings  forth  the  characteristic  basic  idea,  "  I 
will  experience  the  lot  of  the  woman."  But  this  rigid  adherence 
to  a  symbolic  guiding  principle  already  draws  our  attention  to 
the  fact  that  these  and  similar  trends  of  thought  do  not  signify 


S6  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

a  psychic  settlement  but  serve,  under  the  pressure  of  our 
masculine  culture,  for  a  heightened  impetus  in  the  opposite 
direction,  must  lead  to  an  over  compensation  toward  the 
masculine  side,  where  they  evolve  the  masculine  guiding  principle 
the  more  distinctly,  "  therefore  I  must  act  in  such  a  manner  as 
if  I  were  a  complete  man." 

That  these  two  guiding  principles  contradict  one  another,  aside 
from  the  fact  that  each  individually  is  a  contradiction  to  reality, 
ir.  so  far  as  they  are  taken  literally  and  not  as  something  useful 
and  corrigible,  I  have  already  set  forth  in  my  contribution  on 
the  "  Psychic  hermaphroditism  in  life  and  in  the  neurosis  " 
("  Fortschritte  der  Medizin,"  Leipzig,  1908). 

This  contradiction  is  reflected  in  doubt,  in  indecision,  and  in 
fear  of  making  decisions,  the  analysis  of  which  reveals  more  or 
less  the  fact  that  there  existed  in  early  childhood  an  uncertainty 
as  to  the  future  sexual  role,  in  the  psychic  superstructure  of 
which  all  later  sensations,  feelings  and  stimuli  were  grouped  in 
a  certain  sense  as  doubtful,  "  I  don't  know  whether  I  am  a  man 
or  a  woman  "  (see  "  Predispositions  to  Neurosis,"  Year  Book, 
Bleuler-Freud,  1909). 

Our  patient  expressed  in  the  anal  language    that    she    had 

closed  up  an  opening.     A  distinctly  feminine  thought.       One 

may  picture  to  himself  a  group  of  men  and  women  dressed  in 

women's  clothes  gathered  in  a  room  into  which  a  mouse  was 

suddenly  let  loose.     The  women  will  at  once  betray  their  sex 

in  that  they  will  draw  their  clothes  around  their  legs,  as  if  they 

tried  to  prevent  the  mouse  from  entering.     In  the  same  manner, 

the  feminine  frightening  guiding  principle  is  betrayed  by  a  fear 

of  holes,  of  being  bitten,  stabbed,  ideas  of  persecution  by  men, 

t>y  bulls,  the  position  of  the  back,  the  being  pulled  to  the  right, 

backwards,  to  be  pressed  upon,  to  fall,  etc.,  a  guiding  principle 

which  is  readily  reacted  on  with  an  insuring  anxiety.* 

(      Obstipation  as  a  neurotic  symptom    takes    its    origin    in    a 

\  hereditary  defect  of  the  intestines,   which  leads  to  a  neurotic 

/•closure  of  the  sphincter  through  ideas  concerning  anal  birth  and 

/  sexual  relation.     As  a  matter  of  fact  this  patient  suffered  in  her 

(    childhood    from    intestinal    catarrh    and     occasional    intestinal 

V  incontinence,  later  from  obstipation  and  a  recto-vaginal  fistula. 

That  the  closure  of  the  anus  was  under  the  domination  of  a 
guiding  idea  of  closing  of  cavities  is  likewise  seen  from  the  fact 
that  the  patient  suffered  for  a  considerable  length  of  time 
following  her  marriage  from  vaginismus.  The  obstipation  of 
this  aging  woman  expresses  in  a  dual  way  the  same  desire  as 
did  her  erstwhile  vaginismus,  namely,  "  I  don't  want  to  be  a 
woman,  I  want  to  be  a  man." 

At  this  point  I  must  for  practical,  as  well  as  for  theoretical 

3  The  same  masculine  protest  leads  in  the  neurosis  to  trismus,  blepharos- 
pasmus,  vaginismus,  spasm  of  the  sphincter,  globus  and  spasm  of  vocal  cords. 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,  ETC.         87 

reasons  go  considerably  beyond  the  scope  of  a  mere  character 
delineation,  as  one  is  for  that  matter  usually  compelled  to  take 
into  account  the  psyche  as  a  whole  in  every  discussion  of  psycho- 
logical questions.  Besides  this  so  minutely  analyzed  case 
furnishes  a  clearer  insight  than  it  is  possible  to  gain  in  other 
cases,  especially  where,  because  of  a  dependence  upon  the 
physician  or  upon  extraneous  circumstances,  a  cure  or 
discontinuance  of  the  treatment  takes  place  before  the  scheme, 
according  to  which  the  patient  built  his  psychosis,  becomes 
completely  revealed.  Thus  I  will  attempt  to  set  forth  in  this 
case,  this  scheme,  by  arranging  according  to  this  analytically 
disclosed  scheme  all  her  symptoms,  the  sentinels  opposite  the 
outer  world,  and  show  the  synthetic  relationship  of  the  traits  of 
character  with  it. 

According  to  this  scheme  (p.  184-6)  the  patient  arranged  all 
her  experiences,  and  wherever  they  fitted  at  all,  occasion  for 
which  is  amply  furnished  in  the  life  of  every  individual  by  his 
symbolic  as  well  as  purposive  apperceptions,  she  reacted  to  them 
with  the  appropriate  disease  manifestations.  The  protective 
traits  of  character  were  pushed  to  the  fore,  like  outposts,  were 
ever  ready  for  defense,  and  explained  situations  in  accordance 
with  guiding  thoughts,  and  whenever  the  occasion  arose, 
borrowed  support  from  the  sum  total  of  the  appropriate 
symptoms.  Her  manifestations  of  independence  were  consider- 
ably interfered  with  by  the  intelligent  and  tender  attitude  of  her 
husband  and  by  certain  benevolent  guiding  principles  of  the 
patient.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  basic  scheme,  "I'm  only  a 
woman,"  derived  its  influence  from  intentionally  retained 
impressions  of  the  feminine  role,  in  connection  with  which  the 
unconscious  mechanism  of  the  masculine  guiding  thoughts 
furnished  the  protecting  memento.  The  healthy  woman  is 
characterized  by  a  more  conscious  attitude  toward  the  feminine 
role  by  a  purposive  dovetailing  and  corrective  approximation  of 
the  scheme  to  reality.  The  psychosis  produced  an  accentuation 
of  the  imaginary  scheme  for  protective  purposes,  and  an 
incorrigible  attitude  within  this  scheme  ;  such  a  patient  will 
conduct  herself  as  if  she  really  were  pregnant.  In  all  three  cases 
the  fiction  of  pregnancy  and  the  greater  circle  of  its 
manifestations,  a  symbol  of  the  inferior  feminine  role,  a  con- 
vincing expression  for  the  feeling  of  degradation,  but  at  the  same 
time  looked  upon  from  the  standpoint  of  the  masculine  protest,  an 
artifice  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  further  degradation,  as  was 
shown  above.* 

4  The  transformation  of  the  masculine  fiction  may  reach  a  point  where 
under  its  direction  maternity,  pregnancy,  may  be  striven  for,  quite  frequently 
in  such  cases  where  obstacles  of  a  very  gross  nature  exist.  The  cry  for  a  baby 
is  then  regularly  directed  against  the  man.  Phantom  pregnancies  frequently 
represent  such  an  arrangement. 


88 


THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 


SCHEME 


Fear  of   society- 


SYMPTOMS 

•The  leaning  from  the 
feminine 

r61e,    the    masculine 
protest. 


Protective  dexterities. 


Mistrust          (credulity 
with  subsequent 
protest) . 


Compulsive  blushing 
Fear  of  being  alone. 
Palpitation  of  the  heart- 
Fear  of  falling,  dizziness 
when    in  high   places- 


Feeling  of  pressure  in 
the  stomach.  (Csecum.) 

Frigidity.  Overacuity 
of  hearing  of  hus- 
band's snoring. 

Vaginismus,  pressure 
sensations  over  the 
breasts. 

-/  Inability  to  stand  any 
kind  of  pressure,  the 
struggle  against  the 
corset. 

\A  feeling  of  being  drawn 
to  the  right  and  down- 
ward (towards  the 
feminine  side) . 
Noises  in  the  ears.  (The 
noise  of  the  moving 
sea,  which  swells  and 
falls.) 


Protection  against 
courting. 


Protection  against 
coitus. 


Protection   against 
coitus. 


Belittling  of  man. 

Anxiousness. 

Bashfulness  (timidity). 

Virtuous  morality. 

Desire  to  dominate 
(submission  with 
subsequent  protest) . 


Willfulness. 
Obstinacy. 


Disputatiousness . 
Tendencies    hostile   to 
the  husband. 


Abdominal  pains. 

Shortness    of  breath. 

Palpitation  of  the  heart. 

Nausea. 

Vomiting. 

Compulsory       ideas      of 

pregnancy. 
Fatigue. 
Craving       for       certain 

foods. 


Protection   against 
pregnancy. 


Somatic  over- 
sensitiveness. 

Hypochondriacally  to 
pamper  oneself. 


Abdominal  cramps. 

Difficult  evacuation  of 
the  bowels,  signifying 
difficult  labour. 

Occasional  polyuria.  (Pass- 
ing of  the  waters.) 


Protection  against 
parturition. 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,    ENVY,   ETC.         89 


Objection    to    lying    on 
bed. 

Pain  in  legs. 

Tendency    to   pro- 
long invalidism. 


1  A  fiction  of  I  Protection 
I  a  throrabo-  I  against 
)  phlebitis  J  puerperium 


Form  of  action  of  a 
complex  type  for  the 
purpose  of  doing 
away  with  the 
inferiority  and 

degradation. 


Weakness  in  limbs,  re- 
minding one  of  astasia 
and  abasia. 

Staggering  gait. 

Easy  fatiguibility  in 
walking. 


A  hostile,  at  times 
sadistic  behaviour 

towards  children. 

Eapid  fatiguing,  tiring 
and  impatience  in  the 
care  of  children. 

Insomnia. 

Finickiness  in  matters 
of  cleanliness. 

Over-acuteness  of  hear- 
ing at  night. 

Light  sleeping. 


A  memento  of 
leaving  the  child- 
bed. 


Protection 
against 
maternal 
duties. 


Avarice,  thriftiness, 
envy,  desire  to  dom- 
inate, impatience, 
fear  of  attaining 
nothing,  of  com- 
pleting nothing,  all 
sorts  of  exertions, 
as  if  the  distance 
toward  equality' 

with  men  were  to 
be  diminished  in 
any  possible  way. 


A  dream  which  took  place  towards  the  end  of  the  treatment 
shows  us  the  original  guiding  thought  of  the  patient  in 
connection  with  her  actual  inner  conflicts.  She  dreamed  : 
"  As  if  she  were  sitting  on  a  bench  in  a  park  near  the  residence 
of  her  parents,  ill  and  weak.  She  wore  on  her  head  two  bathing 
caps.  Two  girls  then  approached  from  behind  her  and  one  of 
them  tore  one  of  the  caps  from  her  head.  She  grabbed  hold  of 
the  girl  and  held  her  while  the  other  one  disappeared  and 
threatened  to  report  her  to  the  police.  A  poor,  badly  clothed 
woman  passed  by  and  told  her  that  the  girl's  name  was  Velicka. 
At  this  point  she  went  to  her  mother  in  order  to  complain.  Her 
mother  gave  her  a  basket  full  of  eggs  and  said  they  cost  5  guldens. 
She  took  two  of  the  eggs  in  her  hand  and  saw  that  they 
were  pretty." 

The  situation  on  the  bench  ;  her  fatigue  and  the  bathing  caps 
referred  to  a  hydropathic  treatment  which  she  had  undertaken 
especially  for  the  removal  of  an  insomnia  prior  to  coming  under 
my  care.  On  the  day  preceding  the  dream  she  reprimanded  her 
daughter  because  the  latter  used  her  bath  linen  for  her  own  use  ; 
she  also  possessed  two  bathing  caps,  as  in  the  dream, 
which  the  daughter  likewise  often  used.  Velicka  is 

H 


90  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

a  Slavic  word  signifying  big.  The  daughter  had  a 
Slavic  "  Adelspiraedikat."  The  poorly-dressed  woman  is  a 
noblewoman  by  the  name  of  Grandvenire.  Opposed  to  the  two 
is  she,  the  plebeian,  degraded  one.  She  was  dissatisfied  because 
her  husband  was  not  knighted,  but  on  account  of  her  pride  she 
did  not  acknowledge  this  envy.  She  was  afraid  that  her  daughter 
might  be  able  to  take  everything  away  from  her.  She  had  two 
daughters,  one  died,  disappeared.  She  often  complained  to  me 
that  her  daughter  cost  her  much  money.  She  has  already  given 
her  all  her  jewelry.  From  her  very  childhood  she  has  always 
been  degraded  before  others.  Even  her  mother  always  humbled 
her  and  demanded  payment  from  her  for  every  little  thing  after 
the  patient  had  become  married.  She,  on  the  other  hand, 
supplied  her  daughter  regularly  with  eggs,  venison,  milk,  butter, 
etc.,  and  still  she  needed  so  much  money.  Before  she  left  for 
Vienna  she  forgot  to  settle  a  debt  of  5  guldens.  The  day  previous 
she  wrote  to  her  husband  that  he  should  pay  this  at  once.  In 
fact  she  always  had  to  pay  at  once  for  everything  she  bought.* 

The  mother  treated  her  badly.  In  the  dream  she  recalled  a 
forgotten  obligation.  She  always  saved  at  her  expense.  In  the 
dream  she  received  from  her  mother  the  masculine  attribute 
(testicles)  which  the  mother  kept  from  her  at  the  time  of  birth. 
We  see  again  how  out  of  the  feeling  of  femininity  (degradation) 
the  masculine  protest  is  in  the  dream  directed  against  further 
insults.  This  dream  shows  us  the  attempt  of  the  patient  to  evade 
in  her  thoughts  further  degradation  and  to  accuse  her  daughter 
that  like  her  mother  she  kept  everything  from  her. 

Similarly,  this  lust  to  possess  everything  is  found  in  the 
following  case  history  which  shows  still  more  clearly  than  the 
preceding  case  how  the  patient  on  account  of  his  pride  seeks  to 
remove  this  lust  from  his  field  of  vision,  to  repress  it.  We  shall 
see  how  a  decided  change  takes  place  through  the  revelation  of 
this  repression  and  through  the  elucidation  of  the  CEdipus 
complex.  In  the  same  manner  it  appears  from  all  these  cases 
that  this  lust  to  have  everything  pursues  the  most  senseless 
goals.  Such  patients  have  eyes  for  everything  which  others  in 
their  circle  possess  in  so  far  as  they  are  excluded  from  the 
possession  of  the  same.  They  may  possess  more  than  the  others 
and  yet  they  will  envy  them.  They  may  gain  everything  which 
they  formerly  begrudged  others  and  will  then  unceremoniously 
set  it  aside  in  order  to  furnish  new  goals  for  their  desires  and 
possessions.  And  their  lust  for  possession  ever  remains  attached 

8  The  fear  to  become  humiliated  through  further  expenses  is  closely 
allied  to  the  utilization  of  the  character-type  of  greed  and  parsimony.  These 
maternal,  and  according  to  her  way  of  looking,  feminine  traits,  she  avoided 
through  a  compulsion  to  pay  beforehand  and  showed  herself  to  be  superior  to 
her  mother  through  her  liberality. 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,   ETC.        91 

to  those  goals  which  they  have  not  attained.  It  is  readily  under- 
stood that  they  are  incapacitated  for  love  and  friendship.  Often 
they  acquire  a  general  ability  to  misrepresent  and  set  out  to 
captivate  souls  because  others  also  dominate.  They  constantly 
fear  degradation  and  always  seek  to  assure  themselves  long 
beforehand.  The  love  of  the  parents  enjoyed  by  the  brother, 
their  jewelry,  the  marriage  of  a  brother  or  of  a  sister,  a  book, 
an  accomplishment  of  an  acquaintance  or  even  of  a  total  stranger, 
fill  them  with  rage.6 

The  superiority  of  another,  a  successfully  passed  examination, 
possession  or  worth  of  brothers  and  sisters  throw  them  into 
excitements,  cause  them  headache,  insomnia  and  more 
pronounced  neurotic  symptoms.  Their  constant  fear  not  to 
become  equal  of  an  older  or  younger  brother  may  render  them 
unfit  for  work.  It  is  then  that  they  attempt  to  avoid  all  decisions 
and  tests,  it  is  then  that  they  reach  the  stage  of  loss  or  initiative, 
approach  often  in  any  possible  way  the  withdrawal  from  life  and 
support  themselves  in  the  meanwhile  on  their  ad  hoc  created 
symptoms  among  which  there  came  to  my  attention  frequently 
compulsory  blushing,  migraine,  all  sorts  of  headaches,  palpitation 
of  the  heart,  stuttering,  agoraphobia  and  claustrophobia,  tremor, 
sleepiness,  depression,  weakness  of  memory,  excessive  thirst 
and  psychogenic  epilepsy. 

I  have  especially  emphasized  above  the  case  of  the  younger 
brother  because  I  met  with  him  oftenest  and  because  he  is  most 
apt  to  be  driven  to  rivalry.7  This  case  is  not  an  exception.  One 
also  finds  in  this  role  older  siblings  or  only  children,  naturally 
also  girls.  The  rivalry  may  also  be  directed  primarily  against 
the  father  or  mother  in  whose  picture  the  desired  superiority 
appears  to  be  concretely  represented.  It  is  then  that  the  CEdipus- 
complex  develops  out  of  the  longing  of  the  predisposed  child,  as 
a  guiding  model,  a  guiding  fiction  to  gain  satisfaction  for  his 
craving,  and  this  takes  place  at  a  time  when  sexual  craving  is 
still  out  of  the  question,  but  it  is  also  the  desire  to  possess  a 
person  or  an  object  which  belongs  to  another.  A  belief  in 
predestination  and  ideas  of  identification  with  God  frequently 
develop  as  manifestations  of  the  masculine  protest.  Kleptomania 
is  frequently  revealed  in  the  anamneses  of  these  patients.  At 
times  the  patient  is  unconscious  of  his  guiding  principle. 
Occasionally  he  is  seen  at  work  trying  to  conceal  this  guiding 
principle  and  to  make  it  unrecognizable  through  a  manifestation 
of  opposed  tendencies  such  as  liberality. 

*  Thus  an  approaching  marriage  of  a  girl  may  lead  to  the  development  of 
a  neurosis  in  the  brother  or  father  when  the  latter  are  neurotically  disposed. 
Thus  the  arrangement  of  affection  may  then  give  the  impression  of  incest 
stirrings. 

7  Frisoliauf.  "  Psvchology  of  the  Younger  Brother."  Munich,  A. 
Keinhardt,  1912. 


92  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

The  wish,  which  for  instance,  draws  him  to  his  mother, 
changes  nothing  after  it  has  become  conscious  in  the  disease- 
picture,  no  matter  how  frankly  sexual  it  may  be  shown  to  be.  It 
is  only  after  the  patient  understands  and  controls  his  desire  for 
the  unattainable,  for  that  which  in  the  nature  of  things  belongs 
to  another,  that  recovery  may  take  place. 

The  boundless  pride  which  one  detects  in  some  of  these  cases 
does  not  readily  permit  the  patient  to  gain  insight  into  his  envy 
and  jealousy.  The  tendency  to  belittle  others  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  quite  markedly  developed  and  readily  comes  to  the  surface. 
Malice,  revengefulness,  desire  for  intrigue  (and  in  those  of  lower 
intelligence),  more  crudely  aggressive  tendencies,  even  sadistic 
and  murder-instincts  reveal  themselves  as  attempts  to  insure 
oneself  against  a  degradation  in  this  eternal  rivalry.  The  fear 
of  the  consequences,  such  as  a  lively  concern  about  the  needs  of 
relatives,  the  picturing  to  oneself  of  punishments,  arrest  and 
misery  are  appertaining  assurances  against  the  ebullitions  of  the 
masculine  protest.  Even  epileptic  seizures  may  serve  as  security 
devices,  thus,  for  instance,  as  in  our  case,  where  a  psycho- 
epileptic  insult  associated  itself  with  patricidal  and  fratricidal 
dream-stirrings. 

It  is  possible  that  the  motive  of  a  "  scorned  love  "  regularly 
plays  a  r61e  in  these  cases,  and  brings  about  the  most  intense 
hate  against  the  unattained  person.  One  may  justly  doubt 
whether  love  in  a  normal  person  is  capable  of  such  a  trans- 
formation. It  requires  the  sum-total  of  power-instincts,  the  over- 
heated ego-consciousness  of  these  individuals  to  desire  to  bring 
about  the  spiritual  possession  of  another  person  against  that 
person's  will.  Inasmuch  as  the  neurotic  desires  to  possess  every- 
thing, he  is  blind  to  all  natural  restrictions,  and  experiences  in 
the  scorn  of  his  love  a  thrust  at  his  most  sensitive  principle.  Now 
he  turns  to  revenge  :  Achevonia  movebo. 

When  one  is  in  doubt  as  to  which  of  two  persons  the  patient 
has  selected  for  his  affections,  whether  the  father  or  mother,  it 
is  safe  to  assume  that  it  is  the  opposite  to  the  one  the  patient 
mentions.  It  would  be  too  painful,  as  a  rule,  to  acknowledge 
scorned  love.  An  exact  solution  seems  to  me  to  be  furnished  by 
the  following  simple  experiment  : 

One  places  the  patient  exactly  between  the  two  persons  in 
question,  and  soon  one  observes  that  he  has  moved  nearer  the 
preferred  one. 

Thus  I  was  able  to  discover  in  the  case  which  I  am  about  to 
discuss  in  detail  that  the  patient  showed  decided  preference  for 
his  mother,  though  when  he  was  alone  he  always  gave  preference 
to  his  father.  He  not  infrequently  scolded  his  mother,  and  not 
a  day  passed  but  what  they  quarrelled. 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,  ETC.         93 

A  certain  manifestation  which  one  frequently  observes  in  the 
neuroses  was  likewise  present  here,  and  in  an  especially 
accentuated  form,  namely,  the  strong  emphasis  of  a  pedantic 
character  trait,  which,  not  unlike  the  "  crack  regiment  "  in 
war  time,  took  over  the  task  of  coming  in  touch  with  the  enemy. 
The  enemy  was  first  of  all  the  mother,  and  the  daily  battles 
regularly  developed  because  the  latter  was  unable  to  do  full 
justice  to  the  patient's  pedantic  demands  in  eating,  in  dressing, 
in  the  preparation  of  his  bath  or  bed.  Our  patient  thus  gained 
a  base  of  operation — from  which  emanated  the  various  subter- 
fuges by  means  of  which  he  endeavored  to  place  his  mother,  after 
all,  completely  at  his  service.  In  this  is  seen  again  a  neurotic 
trait  of  character  as  a  device,  by  means  of  which  the  patient  seeks 
to  be  true  to  his  inner  fiction,  to  dominate  his  mother  in  the  same 
manner  as  he  believed  to  have  observed  his  father  dominate  her. 
"  And  should  you  be  unwilling,  I'll  use  force."  This  train  of 
thought  gained  stability  from  the  patient  in  his  youth,  and  thus 
he  at  once  assumed  towards  his  mother  an  attitude  of  mistrust, 
constantly  on  the  alert  for  setbacks,  for  the  preferring  of  others; 
full  of  tense  energy  and  gloomy  expectation  whether  he  will  yet 
succeed  in  gaining  her  for  himself.  Not  because  he  really  loved 
her,  or  really  desired  to  possess  her,  but  because  his  desire  for 
possession  of  her  was  similar  to  the  desire  which  he  had  for  many 
other  things,  jewelry,  bonbons,  which  he  valued  not  at  all  highly, 
but  left  lying  in  a  drawer,  forgotten,  once  he  could  call  them  his 
own.  Thus  the  possession  of  the  mother  was  not  an  end  in  itself, 
his  desire  was  not  at  all  a  libidinous  or  sexual  one,  but  the  mother 
and  his  distance  from  her  became  a  symbol  for  him,  an  estimate 
of  his  own  inferiority.  And  because  he  apperceived  the  cosmic 
picture,  every  new  acquaintance,  every  relation  to  the  opposite 
sex  with  the  same  traits  of  character,  suspiciously,  full  ot 
sensitiveness,  with  a  similar  expectation  of  a  disappointment,  all 
success  fled  from  him,  all  satisfaction  in  life  was  lost  to  him.  He 
had  eyes  only  for  everything  which  spoke  against  him,  against 
his  success,  and  whatever  he  did  attain  lost  all  charm  for  him. 
He  settled  the  problem  of  his  life  with  the  arrangement  of  his 
neurosis.  He  considered  himself  deficient  by  a  whole  lot — and 
this  deficiency  was  represented  in  the  symbolic  loss  of  the  mother. 

Does  one  suppose  that  this  patient  who  had  been  suffering 
from  anxiety-states,  migraine  and  depressions,  could  have  been 
cured  if  his  mother  were  returned  to  him  ?  Such  an  attempt 
would  have  been  fruitless  at  the  time  the  patient  came  to  the 
physician.  Even  the  most  compliant  mother — and  many  of  them 
are  lastingly  estranged  from  their  sons — could  not  have  shown 
that  measure  of  patience  and  sacrifice  which  the  patient 
demanded  in  his  boundless  mistrust  and  desire  for  dominancy. 
The  past,  and  the  thought  of  former  privations,  were  ever  ready 


94  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

to  furnish  motives  for  new  outbreaks  and  oppressions.  It  is 
possible  that  the  attempt  at  cure  might  have  been  a  successful 
one  in  the  patient's  childhood,  a  pedagogic  solution  of  this  special 
neurotic  problem  in  a  gradual  orientation  and  independence  of 
the  child,  and  an  appropriate  tranquilizing  of  the  child  concerning 
his  future.  It  is  the  uncertainty  which  mars  the  outlook  for  the 
future  in  these  children,  an  uncertainty  whose  organic  and 
psychic  roots  we  already  know.  In  our  case  it  was  the  fact  that 
the  patient,  already  as  a  child,  even  during  the  suckling  period 
showed  a  tendency  to  become  easily  frightened  and  panicky. 
This  fright  of  sucklings — which  is  frequently  taken  as  nervousness 
— is  obviously  an  organic  inheritance  and  is  associated,  according 
to  my  observations,  with  an  hereditary  sensitiveness,  inferiority 
of  the  auditory  apparatus,  so  that  children  already  become 
panicky  in  the  presence  of  noises  and  tones  to  which  other 
children  pay  no  unusual  attention.  From  our  standpoint  this 
striking  tendency  to  fright  signifies  a  sign  of  an  hereditary, 
auditory  oversensitiveness,  a  manifestation  of  a  somatic 
inferiority  of  the  familiar  ear  diseases,  but  likewise  corresponds 
to  a  heightened  refinement  of  hearing  in  the  musical  sense.  The 
fact  that  our  patient  suffered  at  the  age  of  6  years  from  a 
protracted  middle  ear  disease  which  necessitated  paracentesis  of 
the  ear  drum,  is  in  accord  with  our  views  concerning  somatic 
inferiority  ;  similarly,  his  development  of  an  excellent  musical 
ear  and  of  a  strikingly  refined  sensitiveness  in  hearing  which 
especially  qualified  him  for  eavesdropping.  This  somatic  refine- 
ment brings  with  it  that  the  child  is  driven  to  a  development  of 
a  tendency  towards  a  lurking  curiosity,  even  though  he  may  feel 
more  marked  uncertainties  from  other  causes.  The  roots  of  this 
uncertainty  from  which  he  endeavors  to  escape  by  means  of  his 
curiosity,  laid  in  the  patient's  weaker  intellect,  compared  with 
an  older  brother — who  as  it  often  happens  to  the  detriment  of 
bringing  up — made  of  the  patient  the  plaything  of  his  railleries 
and  often  made  a  fool  of  him. 

The  patient  also  recalled  that  he  had  suffered  from  that  form 
of  cryptorchism  in  which  a  testicle  occasionally  disappears  into 
the  abdominal  cavity  through  the  patent  canal.  This  fact,  that 
is,  the  better  sexual  development  of  his  brother,  the  earlier 
maturity  of  the  latter,  brought  to  his  mind  quite  early  the  thought 
that  he  was  perhaps  a  girl  after  all.  Up  to  the  fourth  year  of  his 
life  he  was  dressed  in  girl's  clothes,  and  during  this  period  he 
developed  the  fear  that  he  never  perhaps  would  reach  the  mature 
state  of  his  father  or  his  older  brother,  that  is,  never  become  a 
complete  man.  The  marked  development  of  his  breasts  lent 
considerable  weight  to  his  uncertainty.  That  he  unconsciously 
gave  considerable  thought  to  the  question  of  the  difference  of 
the  sexes,  one  may  glean  from  an  occurrence  which  remained 


AVARICE,  SUSPICIOUSNESS,   ENVY,   ETC.         95 

fixed  in  his  memory,  because  at  the  time  he  told  it  every  one 
laughed  at  him.  One  day  while  in  a  public  park  he  watched  a 
girl  urinate  and  upon  reaching  home  related  how  he  had  seen  a 
boy  urinate  from  behind." 

This  early  period  in  his  life  was  of  marked  significance  in 
shaping  his  attitude  towards  his  family  and  in  a  broader  sense 
to  the  world  at  large.  He  saw  himself  belittled,  and  his  feeling 
of  inferiority  found  no  adjustment  in  the  family.  His  covetous- 
ness,  his  craving  to  become  the  equal  of  his  brother,  of  his  father, 
of  anyone  whom  he  considered  strong,  able,  powerful,  gained  in 
intensity  and  directed  him  upon  paths  in  which  he  came  into 
serious  conflicts  with  his  parents.  He  became  a  bad,  unmanage- 
able child,  which  made  a  tender  attitude  of  his  parents  towards 
him  still  more  difficult.  His  desires  assumed  measureless 
proportions,  he  began  to  insure  himself  against  every  setback 
suspiciously  and  with  a  growing  choler,  and  this  at  a  time  when 
his  maturing  genitalia,  his  strikingly  hairy  body,  his  improved 
insight  into  matters  sexual,  should  have  had  their  tranquilizing 
effect  upon  him.  But  by  this  time  his  position  in  the  family 
became  such  an  unfavorable  one,  owing  to  the  development  of  his 
traits  of  character,  which  likewise  unfavorably  influenced  his 
school  work,  that  with  his  over-sensitive  nature  he  had  good 
reason  to  feel  himself  slighted  and  belittled.  Thus  he  was  no 
longer  able  to  find  the  road  to  normality.  That  he,  however, 
continued  to  apperceive  this  slight — in  the  manner  of  an  analogy 
with  the  feminine  role — became  already  evident  from  the  first 
dream  which  he  recited  during  the  treatment.  The  dream  was 
"  I  felt  as  if  I  were  witnessing  an  ape  nursing  a  child." 

His  brother  often  called  him  an  ape  because  of  his  excessive 
hairy  growth,  which  he  nevertheless  exhibited  with  pride.  The 
ape,  which  is  nursing  the  child,  a  female  ape,  is  he  himself — that 
is,  he  sees  himself,  he  feels  himself  in  a  feminine  role,  along  with 
which  the  nursing  is  to  be  considered  a  gynecomastia  ("  Gyna- 
komastie  ")  which  came  up  during  the  dream  analysis.  This 
is  the  feminine  principle  emphasized  by  me  for  all  dreams — 
against  which  the  stressing  of  the  excessive  hairy  growth  is  to 
be  understood  as  pointing  in  the  direction  of  the  masculine 
protest.  Thus  the  patient  enters  upon  the  treatment  with  the 
disclosure  that  he  feels  himself  belittled — and  permits  us  to 
divine  from  the  choice  of  his  figure  of  speech,  that  he  evaluates 
this  inferiority  as  feminine. 

I  wish  to  draw  attention,  in  this  connection,  to  the  fact  that 
the  dreamer  often  chooses  pictures  and  forms  of  expression  which 

1  The  original  uncertainty  of  the  sexual  r61e,  as  I  have  been  emphasizing  for 
y«'ars,  plays  one  of  the  chief  parts  in  the  development  of  the  neurotic  psvche, 
which  is  later  on  vitalized  as  a  symbol  and  base  of  operation  in  the  struggle  for 
dominancy.  It  is  only  of  late  that  many  authorities  are  beginning  to  agree 
vith  me  on  this  point. 


96  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

show  a  simultaneous  coloring  of  feminine  and  masculine  traits. 
Here  it  was  an  ape,  whose  nursing  was  a  feminine  characteristic, 
while  the  hairy  growth  is  to  be  apperceived  as  a  masculine 
characteristic.  Such  forms  of  expression  which  I  have  recognized 
as  belonging  to  the  psychic  hermaphroditism  may  be  referred  to 
two  simplifying  circumstances.  First,  they  correspond  to  the 
infantile  indefiniteness  of  sex-cognition.  Second,  because  the 
element  of  time,  as  in  other  cases,  the  element  of  space,  is  during 
the  marked  abstraction  of  the  dream  state  wholly  or  almost 
wholly  eliminated,  so  that  his  thoughts  which  may  be  separated 
spatially  or  temporally,  become  united — in  one  case  the  thoughts 
were  "  I  feel  myself  a  woman  and  wish  to  be  a  man."  Stekel, 
in  his  further  elaboration  of  my  conception  of  psychic  herma- 
phroditism, assumes  a  double  sexual  meaning  for  every  dream 
symbol,  which  I  think  is  a  certain  exaggeration,  nevertheless  he 
comes  closer  to  the  truth  than  does  Freud  who  denies  the  regular 
manifestation  in  the  dream  of  psychic  hermaphroditism  and  the 
masculine  protest. 

The  distinctness  with  which  this  first  dream  of  our  patient 
points  to  his  feeling  of  inferiority,  so  to  speak,  in  the  form  of  a 
reaction  to  the  beginning  of  the  treatment,  is  naturally  also  to 
be  understood  as  an  omen  for  the  benefit  of  the  physician  :  — 
"  My  disease  has  its  origin  in  my  feeling  of  inferiority."  "  My 
disease,"  fainting  attacks  and  business  incapacity  are  security 
devices  against  a  defeat  in  the  fifth  act.  "  I  am  impotent  and 
inefficient  as  a  child  and  long  for  love,  ape-love,  as  I  see  it  in 
the  dream."  We  fill  out  : — impotent  for  reason,  in  order  to  be 
pampered  like  a  child,  which  he  succeeds  in  attaining  more 
readily  after  his  attacks  ;  and  inefficient,  in  order  that  he  may 
always  be  supplied  with  maintenance,  in  order  that  it  may  not 
be  forgotten  that  he  must  be  made  secure  for  life  through  affection 
and  legacy.  His  marked  tendency  to  be  frightened  by  sudden 
noises,  his  hyperacusis  was  especially  fitted  to  aid  him  in  gaining 
his  point.  The  finale  which  he  set  before  him,  a  desired  over- 
compensation  for  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  consisted  in  not  more 
nor  less  than  the  desire  to  gain  the  love  of  his  parents,  especially 
that  difficult  of  attainment,  mother's  love.  Thus  he  utilizes, 
with  the  object  of  influencing  his  mother's  heart,  the  already- 
mentioned  experiences,  such  as  becoming  frightened  upon  hear- 
ing a  shot,  as  he  often  manifested  upon  hearing  the  firing  at  a 
military  funeral,  upon  hearing  the  puffing  and  shrill  whistling  of 
a  locomotive,  and  during  a  sudden  assault  by  his  brother  or 
playmates.  The  finale  which  constantly  stands  before  his  eyes, 
drew  upon  itself  a  fixation  of  this  hyperacusis,  which  dominated 
him  up  to  the  present.  This  purposeful  hypersensitiveness 
serves,  as  do  similar  phenomena  in  hysteria,  to  show  us  that  the 
patient's  uncertainty  forces  him  to  stretch  forth  his  antennae  as 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,    ENVY,   ETC.         97 

far  as  possible,  as  he  is  actually  doing  with  over-tense  traits  of 
character.  Aside  from  this  his  tendency  to  fear  pressed  upon 
his  masculine  feeling  and  gave  him  the  sense  of  feminine  stimuli. 
He  endeavored,  therefore,  to  bring  forth  in  all  other  relations, 
courage  and  fearless  behavior,  in  which  he  too  succeeded. 

The  laying  bare  of  his  desire  for  the  love  of  the  mother  brought 
forth  no  particular  result.  His  attacks  occurred  at  about  the 
same  intervals,  but  now  he  had  them  in  bed,  in  order  to  protect 
himself  in  this  way  from  the  possible  inroads  of  the  treatment, 
which,  at  this  stage,  was  encountering  more  difficulty  in" 
endeavoring  to  uncover  the  causes  of  his  attacks.  Prior  to  this 
the  attacks  occurred  always  in  connection  with  experiences  which 
threatened  him  with  a  set-back,  but  now  I  was  compelled  to 
reconstruct  these  experiences  from  his  thoughts  and  dreams. 
Naturally  the  patient  made  a  virtue  of  this  necessity,  and  spoke 
of  this  change  as  an  improvement  due  to  my  treatment,  thus 
expecting  to  gain  in  this  way  my  sympathy,  an  experience  which 
he  always  apperceived  as  a  feeling  of  power.  To  this  craving 
after  this  feeling  of  power  he  owes  his  success  in  passing  as  a 
very  sociable  and  pleasant  fellow  in  his  intercourse  with  strangers. 

It  may  be  said  here  that  because  of  my  different  conception 
of  these  matters,  the  CEdipus-complex  does  not  come  very  clearly 
to  the  surface,  here,  at  any  rate  not  so  clearly  as  Freud  has 
demonstrated  this  complex.  To  this  I  would  have  to  object 
energetically.  It  was  this  case  particularly,  as  so  few  of  them 
do,  which  brought  to  view  regardless  of  consequence,  the 
striving  for  the  mother  in  a  sexual  manner,  and  the  patient 
at  no  time  hesitated  to  elaborate  the  frequently  unconcealed 
CEdipus  dreams  as  proof  of  his  sexual  striving  after  his  mother. 
He  had  many  such  dreams.  He  dreamed  :  '  I'm  walking  with 
a  lady  from  our  rendezvous  towards  the  street." 

The  lady  represented  his  mother,  as  the  various  details 
showed.  The  "  street  "  referred  to  prostitution.  The  "  rendez- 
vous ' '  on  the  other  hand  was  a  memory-remnant  from  his 
waking  life  and  referred  to  a  girl  who  refused  him  another 
meeting,  thus  by  her  refusal  simulating  his  mother.  He  was 
•unable  to  wield  any  influence  over  girls,  and  was  thus,  according 
to  his  own  understanding,  driven  to  the  masculine — feeling  of 
power — and  in  his  protest  degraded  to  the  level  of  a  prostitute 
his  mother  as  well  the  girl,  and  for  that  matter  all  women,  whom 
he  naturally  feared. 

Just  as  clearly  the  CEdipus-complex  came  to  light  in  other 
dreams,  where  too  the  sexual,  as  a  jargon,  as  a  mode  of  speech, 
was  only  recognized  after  a  penetration  into  the  psychic 
constellation.  Thus  he  dreamed  :"  I'm  sitting  at  a  smooth  table 
made  of  brown  wood.  A  girl  brings  me  a  large  vessel  of  beer." 
The  table  reminded  him  of  a  subterranean  cellar  at  Nuremberg, 


98  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

where  he  went  to  attend  a  scientific  gathering  which  led  him 
to  the  German  museum.  His  thoughts  drifted  in  the  same 
general  direction  of  Germanism  in  connection  with  the  large 
vessel  of  beer.  It  is  quite  comprehensible  that  this  unusually 
musical  patient  should  in  the  analysis  come  upon  Wagner's 
"  Meistersinger."  As  he  mentioned  this  he  began  to  search 
for  a  scene  in  Wagner's  operas,  wherein  some  one  takes  a  drink. 
At  first  he  thought  of  Tristan,  then  of  Siegfried's  arrival  at 
Gunter's  palace v  In  both  scenes  the  hero  drinks  a  love  potion. 
Thus  our  patient  apperceives  his  enigmatical  attraction  for  his 
mother  as  something  provoked  by  the  mother's  magical  powers. 
At  last  he  thought  of  Siegmund  to  whom  his  sister  Sieglinde 
compassionately  gives  a  horn  of  meal. 

Thus  the  dream  reads  : — The  voice  of  blood  (relation)  hath 
spoken,  the  mother  compassionately  takes  his  part,  he  is  the 
hero,  who  is  the  man  (father)  of  his  wife.  An  incestuous 
prospect,  as  in  Wagner,  the  patient,  as  if  intoxicated,  longs 
after  his  mother. 

The  psychic  situation  of  the  patient  had  experienced  an 
"  effeminization."  His  older  brother  had  returned  from  a  journey 
and  was  welcomed  at  home  with  much  love.  How  different 
were  matters  upon  his  own  return  from  his  travels  in  Germany. 
The  thought,  I  am  belittled,  became  accentuated  through  the 
reception  accorded  his  brother,  and  in  the  dream  he  seeks  to 
save  himself  through  a  masculine  guiding  line.  It  was  an  attempt 
which  was  bound  to  fail.  The  same  night  he  had  a  seizure. 

The  seizure  had  for  its  purpose  the  direction  of  the  mother's 
tenderness  towards  the  patient.  This  was  quite  successful 
with  the  father.  But  even  the  mother  would  forget  his  jealous, 
frequently  vulgar  outbreaks  of  temper,  as  soon  as  he  lay 
unconscious,  and  for  a  time  would  sit  on  his  bed.  Thus  he  satisfies 
his  wish,  his  wish  to  possess  everything,  like  the  brother,  like 
the  father.  The  change  of  form  of  his  original  fiction,  namely 
—I  have  imperfect  genitalia,  I  shall  not  be  a  complete  man — 
had  reached  the  thought,  I  too  wish  to  possess  my  mother  as  my 
father  and  brother  possess  her.  In  order  to  comport  himself  in 
this  matter  with  the  appropriate  amount  of  energy,  it  required  a 
deeply-felt  conviction  of  his  longing  for  his  mother,  which  he 
proceeded  to  create. 

The  most  essential  reason  for  his  ardent  attitude  towards  his 
mother  was  revealed  in  the  further  analysis,  which  revealed  as 
the  decisive  point  his  feeling  of  uncertainty.  As  the  mother 
isolated  herself  more  and  more  from  him  during  his  childhood, 
he  developed  the  idea,  as  is  the  case  not  infrequently  with  such 
children,  that  he  did  not  belong  to  his  family.  The  fairy  tales 
of  "  Snow  White  "  and  "  Cinderella  "  frequently  furnish  these 
children  with  leading  thoughts.  When  his  brother  was  ill  once 


AVARICE,   SUSPICIOUSNESS,    ENVY,   ETC.         99 

the  mother  did  not  leave  him  for  a  second.  After  that  the 
patient  was  uninterruptedly  stimulated  to  test,  by  means  of  his 
severe  seizures,  the  family,  especially  the  mother,  and  see  if  the 
"  voice  of  blood  "  would  speak.  These  tests  he  carried  out  with 
a  genuine  neurotic  insatiability,  and  thus  we  see  also  in  this  case 
that  the  CEdipus-complex  is  of  the  nature  of  an  especially 
arranged  fiction,  utilized  as  a  means  of  expression  for  the 
masculine  protest  against  a  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  inferiority, 
and  dependent  upon  the  neurotic  craving  for  security,  the  desire 
to  possess  everything. 

The  inner  contradiction  which  frequently  comes  into  being  in 
this  form  of  masculine  protest,  the  moral  condemnation  of  a 
conduct  corresponding  to  the  basic  thought  "  to  possess  every- 
thing," but  also  the  greater  insight  into  the  impossibility  of 
attainment  or  the  fear  of  a  decision  which  may  assail  the  patient 
often  necessitate  a  compromise.  This  may  best  be  expressed  by 
the  words  "  half  and  half."  The  patient  seeks  a  way  out  of  this 
dilemma  and  thus  reaches  the  point  of  "  divide  et  imp  era."  At 
times  this  solution  is  tenable,  because  of  the  possibility  of  a 
gratification  of  the  desire  for  dominancy. 

At  times  this  leads  to  a  marked  cultural  but  also  Utopian 
development  of  feeling  of  equality  and  love  for  justice. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  NEUROTIC  EXTENSION  OF  LIMITS  THROUGH  ASCETICISM, 
LOVE,  DESIRE  TO  TRAVEL,  CRIME.  SIMULATION  AND 
NEUROSIS.  FEELING  OF  INFERIORITY  OF  THE  FEMALE  SEX. 
PURPOSE  OF  AN  IDEAL.  DOUBT  AS  AN  EXPRESSION  OF 
PSYCHIC  HERMAPHRODITISM.  MASTURBATION  AND  NEUROSIS. 
THE  INCEST-COMPLEX  AS  A  SYMBOL  OF  CRAVING  FOR 
DOMINANCY.  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  DELIRIUM.  (Delirium 
used  in  the  sense  of  the  French  :  UNE  DELIRE.) 

A  CONSIDERATION  which  should  align  itself  here  endeavors 
to  show  how  the  compensating  guiding  idea,  "  to  possess 
everything  "  may  deviate  from  its  straight  course  in  order  to 
stimulate  in  a  roundabout  way  or  by  means  of  an  artifice, 
accomplishments  of  a  strangely  neurotic,  criminal,  but  also  of  a 
creative  kind,  in  order  to  reach  its  ultimate  good  eventually  and 
bring  about  in  some  way  a  maximation  of  the  ego-consciousness 
or  at  least — and  to  this  extent  the  neurosis  remains  productive — 
to  prevent  a  degradation. 

The  parsimony,  penury  and  asceticism  of  certain  neurotics 
already  shows  us  such  a  detour  upon  which  the  patient  permits 
himself  to  be  driven  as  if  he  were  able  to  avoid  danger  only  in 
this  way.  He  then  behaves  strictly  according  to  these  guiding 
ideas,  believes  in  them  and  accentuates  his  abnormal  being  in 
moments  of  especial  uncertainty  to  the  point  of  a  psychosis.  In 
melancholic  states  when  poverty  phantasies  predominate,  as  well 
as  in  hypochondriacs1  the  patient  in  order  to  avoid  the  real 
danger,  anticipates  the  feared  state,  endeavors  to  realize  a 
fiction,  emphasizes  his  feeling  of  inferiority  and  utilizes  his 
disease  for  the  safeguarding  of  his  ego-consciousness.  Cases 
-exhibiting  the  lying-mania,  fetichism,  neurotic  mania  for  gather- 
ing up  things  and  kleptomania,  also  illustrate  this  craving  to 
possess  everything.  Another  evident  trait  exists,  namely,  to 
t>reak  through  the  boundaries  laid  down  by  reality  in  the  direction 
of  a  fictitious  guiding  principle,  in  order  to  escape  a  feeling  of 
degradation.  Apperception  always  comes  to  light  according  to 
the  rigidly  formal  antithesis  of  "manly- womanly"  and  frequently 
leads  the  patient  to  undertake  accentuations  by  means  of  which 
it  may  be  proved  that  he  is  a  man.  Sexual  symbolism  lends 
itself  very  well  as  a  means  of  expression  for  this  purpose,  the 
solution  of  which  is  at  times  furnished  by  the  exaggerated 
Ttiasculine  trend  through  peculiar  detours.  Here  belongs  the 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.     .  101 

neurotic  lying,  braggardism,  as  well  as  attempts  to  play  with  fire 
and  love  and  thus  extend  as  far  as  possible  the  established  limits. 
Less  harmful  manifestations  are  pathological  wanderlust,  the 
expression  of  which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  running  away,  in  the 
fugues  of  neurotic  and  psychotic  subjects.  As  a  rule  there  exists 
in  the  guiding  picture  of  these  neurotics  an  ideal  of  personality, 
the  apex  of  which  it  is  attempted  to  reach  through  imitation  or 
obstinate,  negativistic  behavior.  The  same  trend,  namely,  to 
extend  masculine  cognition,  to  its  very  limits,  is  at  the  bottom 
also  of  the  constant  tendency  to  read  about,  listen  to,  see  and' 
commit  acts  of  a  disgusting  nature. 

The  more  pronounced  this  striving  for  worthless  possession, 
the  more  normal  tendencies  and  values  are  falsified,  similarly  to 
the  manner  in  which  love  for  nature  is  only  a  deception,  but 
exhibited  in  an  exaggerated  manner,  when  a  tourist  wants  to 
have  every  peak  noted  upon  his  mountain  staff. 

The  Leporelist  shows  us  this  desire  with  reference  to  love, 
and  the  Messalina  is  to  be  compared  with  Don  Juan,  a  nympho- 
maniac who  always  imagines  herself  unsatiated  and  belittled 
because  in  this  neurotic  form  real  possibilities  for  gratification 
are  unattainable.  The  fettering  and  degradation  of  the  partner 
are  of  course  taken  into  consideration  in  this  relation. 

"Dear  soul,  what  place  can  you  think  of  where  I  have  not 
been  ?  '  Immermann's  Munchausen  answers  to  the  question, 
whether  he  knew  a  certain  distant  place.  The  real  satisfaction 
in  active  games,  riding,  driving,  racing  and  aviation  originate 
from  the  desire  for  possession,  for  conquest.  For  this  reason 
every  child  aspires  to  be  a  coachman,  a  conductor,  a  locomotive 
engineer  or  an  aviator,  but  to  no  less  an  extent  he  wishes  to  be 
emperor  or  teacher  in  order  to  command  his  companions  and  to 
find  a  visible  expression  for  his  superiority,  or  a  physician  in 
order  to  conquer  death  and  to  extend  the  limits  of  life,  or  a 
general  in  order  to  lead  an  army  or  an  admiral  in  order  to 
command  the  sea.  Lies,  thefts  and  other  crimes  committed  by 
children  are  manifestly  attempts  to  extend  the  limits  of  power 
in  this  way.  For  the  most  part  these  attempts  assume  no  more 
real  form  than  that  of  day  dreams  or  phantasies.  An  inquiry 
instituted  by  me  in  a  girls'  high  school  showed  that  all  of  the 
twenty-five  girls  remembered  having  committed  trivial  thefts. 
I  was  able  to  include  even  the  teacher.  On  closer  examination 
the  motive  for  this  striving  for  attainment  is  the  intolerable 
stimulus  arising  from  the  child's  feeling  of  inferiority.  Frequently 
the  child  under  this  pressure  is  curious,  eager  to  learn,  seeks  to 
recognize  his  faults  and  to  make  for  himself  a  place  for  unfolding 
his  personality.  Defects,  misfortunes,  the  feeling  of  uncertainty 
and  inferiority  often  force  a  strong  development  of  the  higher 
psychic  faculties,  analogous  to  the  compensatory  stress  in  the 


\ 

102  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

organic  compensatory  tendency.  Jatgeir  says  in  Ibsen's 
"  Pretender  to  the  Crown,"  "  I  received  the  gift  of  pain  arid 
became  a  skald."  It  is  easy  to  prove  in  a  number  of  cases  that 
a  particularly  strong  feeling  of  inferiority  sets  into  activity  the 
impulse  to  investigation,  or  that  the  "  vocation  "  to  the  life  of  an 
artist  which  later  presents  the  example  of  a  harmonious  accord 
of  art  and  life  "  began  with  a  crude  dissonance  "  (B.  Litzmann, 
Clara  Schumann). 

Another  way  in  which  children  often  show  themselves 
superior  to  their  parents  has  been  described  by  me  in  the 
'  Psychic  Treatment  of  Trigeminal  Neuralgia."  This  may 
consist  in  the  following  :  From  memory  of  earlier  defects  in 
imitation  of  others,  a  state  of  apparent  stupidity,  blindness, 
d/eafness,  limping,  stuttering,  enuresis,  untidiness,  awkwardness, 
lack  of  appetite,  nausea,  etc.,  is  retained.  The  psyche  gradually 
forms  out  of  these  already  prepared  psychic  habits  which  the 
child  holds  fast  to  as  a  protest  against  the  feeling  of  being 
neglected,  psychic  aptitudes  which  in  the  neurosis  following  a 
given  direction,  constitute  a  symptom  picture  which  may  be 
stated  as  follows  :  Act  as  if  you  were  obliged  to  shift  for  your- 
self by  means  of  one  of  these  faults,  of  these  deficiencies,  to  gain 
through  it  a  feeling  of  superiority.  The  difference  between  this 
and  malingering  often  consists  only  in  this,  that  in  every  case  it 
is  not  always  reflection  which  first  calls  up  the  phenomenon,  but 
that  the  already  existing  preparedness  for  the  symptom  becomes 
embodied  in  the  web  and  woof  of  memory  as  an  insuring  agent 
against  the  fear  of  being  under-estimated  or  neglected,  just  as 
the  technical  skill  in  the  fingers  of  a  virtuoso  is  always  ready  to 
respond  in  the  proper  reaction  to  any  demand.  The  whole  army 
of  neurotic  symptoms,  blushing,  headache,  migraine,  fainting, 
pains,  tremor,  depression,  exaltation,  etc.,  may  be  traced  to 
these  ready-for-use  psychic  attitudes.  One  of  the  facts  which, 
thanks  to  my  method  of  viewing  the  subject,  I  was  able  to  explain, 
concerns  the  less  well  known  feeling  of  inferiority  common  to 
all  girls  and  women  which  is  due  to  their  feminine  role  in 
contrast  to  the  masculine.  Their  soul  life  is  thereby  so  altered 
that  they  constantly  betray  traits  of  the  "  masculine  protest 
and  in  truth,  usually  in  a  circuitous  form,  in  apparently  feminine 
inferior  traits  such  as  are  described  in  the  previously  cited  group. 
Education  as  well  as  the  necessary  preparations  for  the  future 
force  them  to  bring  their  superiority  to  expression,  their 
"  masculine  protest  "  in  insidious  ways,  mostly  having  tha 
character  of  resignation.  The  features  of  '  Emotion  " 
(Heyman's)  are  always  sufficiently  distinct,  greed  for  power, 
envy,  desire  to  please,  inclination  to  cruelty  are  so  apparent  that 
they  may  be  regarded  as  compensatory  masculine  traits,  as 
directed  towards  a  masculine  goal.  Parkes  Weber  (Lancet,  191 1) 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  103 

has,    following    me,    discovered    the    foundation    of    hysterical 
phenomena  in  this  sort  of  provision  against  under-estimation. 

Preparedness  for  crime  is  also  to  be  regarded  as  an  outcome 
of  the  masculine  protest  in  persons  whose  compensatory  ideal 
necessitates  a  fictitious  guiding  line  which  demands  that  the  life, 
health,  and  possessions  of  his  fellow  man  should  be  stripped  of 
worth.  In  cases  of  extreme  uncertainty  where  the  deprivations, 
under-estimations,  threaten  loss  of  the  feeling  of  ego-conscious- 
ness as  well  as  where  there  is  strained  effort  to  "  reach  the  top," 
to  secure  supremacy,  such  persons  (whose  feeling  of  inferiority 
has  sought  compensation  in  emotional  preparedness,  in  essential 
pursuit  of  the  guiding  line,  by  processes  of  abstraction  from 
reality)  will  seek  to  come  nearer  to  their  ideal  by  a  crime.  D. 
A.  Jassny,  has  given  an  excellent  analysis  of  this  mechanism 
which  is  manifested  most  clearly  in  emotional  crimes,  habitual 
crimes  and  crimes  of  negligence  in  women,  in  Gross'  Archiv.  f. 
Kriminalanthropologie,  1911. 

The  great  importance  of  the  relations  of  love  in  human  life 
has  as  a  result  that  the  neurotic  greed  to  possess  everything 
enters  regularly  into  the  relations  of  man  and  wife,  and  there 
develops  a  disturbing  tendency  by  introducing  an  inclination  to 
disregard  reality  and  causing  the  undertaking  of  enterprises  with 
a  view  to  the  maximation  of  the  feeling  of  personal  worth.  It 
lies  in  the  nature  of  a  neurotic  to  wish  to  diminish  the  feeling  of 
inferiority  by  constant  proofs  of  his  superiority.  For  this  reason, 
the  person  loved  is  forced  to  sacrifice  his  personality,  to  exist 
entirely  through  the  neurotic  who  makes  this  demand,  to  become 
a  means  for  augmenting  the  feeling  of  personal  worth  of  the 
neurotic.  A  good  proof  of  a  real  love  without  neurotic  tendency 
would  be  that  the  person  loved  was  encouraged  to  preserve 
his  or  her  personal  worth  or  when  this  personal  worth  even 
received  support.  Such  cases  are  rare.  In  the  relation  of  the 
sexes  there  arises  nearly  always  an  obstinate  and  selfish  feature, 
a  tendency  to  put  to  test,  towards  suspicion  which  constantly 
disturbs  the  peaceful  marital  relations.  Arbitrary  demands  are 
the  order  of  the  day.  One  situation  explains  the  other,  so  that 
the  gist  of  the  situation  can  always  be  easily  recognized.  It  is  as 
if  both  parties  were  confronted  by  an  enigma  which  they 
endeavor  to  solve  by  every  possible  means.  Analysis  always 
reveals  a  fear  of  the  sexual  partner  resulting  from  a  feeling  of 
inferiority  and  thereby  striving  toward  superiority. 

We  have  already  become  acquainted  to  some  extent  with  the 
strivings  by  circuitous  ways  where  there  is  an  accentuated  feeling 
of  inferiority  in  congenital  defectives.  This  striving  results  in  a 
number  of  neurotically  acquired  adaptations  and  certain  traits  of 
character  assume  prominence,  so  that  the  individual  remains  in 
close  touch  with  the  enemy.  Perhaps  the  really  most  important 


104  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

features  are  distrust  and  jealousy,  with  which  desire  for  mastery 
and  disputatiousness  are  concurrent.  According  to  the  previous 
history  of  the  patient  and  to  the  previous  available  practices  as 
well  as  the  neurosis  which  he  can  apply  to  his  purpose,  the  one 
feature  or  the  other  declares  itself  with  more  or  less  distinctness. 
They  all  stand  under  the  pressure  of  the  fictitious  final  purpose 
and  break  forth  when  reduction  of  the  feeling  of  personal  worth 
is  threatened,  or  show  that  they  are  still  effective  when  pride 
represses  them  into  the  unconscious.  In  all  cases  these  individuals 
have  at  their  disposal  the  neurotic  adaptations,  which  now  in  the 
form  of  depression,  again  as  anxiety  at  being  left  alone,  as  fear 
of  places,  as  insomnia,  and  in  a  hundred  and  one  other  symptoms 
by  means  of  which  they  seek  to  force  "  the  opponent  "  to  lay 
down  his  arms.  The  strongest  moral  principles  have  the  same 
value  as,  for  instance,  coquetry  and  adultery  as  a  revenge  when 
the  feeling  of  being  under-estimated  demands  the  reinstatement 
in  equality  or  the  gaining  of  the  upper  hand  of  the  other  party. 
The  husband  expresses  protesting  revengefulness  where  there  is 
a  lack  of  the  feeling  of  superiority  by  playing  the  wild  man,  in 
side  leaps,  in  rejection,  sometimes,  however,  in  impotence,  in 
remarkable  protection  of  the  children  or  doubts  about  their 
legitimacy,  ;frequently  in  shunning  domesticity,  in  increased 
alcoholism  or  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure.  The  purpose  of  this 
line  of  conduct  is  usually  so  obvious  that  it  is  generally  under- 
stood. For  it  only  then  reaches  its  goal  when  the  wife  feels 
herself  thereby  degraded.  The  frequent  delirium  of  jealousy  of 
alcoholics  is  not  based  on  the  resulting  impotence,  but  alcoholism, 
impotence  and  the  increased  jealousy  as  a  trait  of  character  are 
neurotic  forms  of  expression  of  those  predisposed  and  whose 
feeling  of  inferiority  experiences  an  aggravation.  Like  all  other 
neurotics  such  an  individual  suffers  from  the  neurotic  apper- 
ception, by  means  of  which  he  measures  the  distance  of  reality 
from  an  ideal  which  has  been  strengthened  in  the  direction  of 
his  tendency.  It  is,  however,  one  of  the  most  effective  attitudes 
of  neurotic  individuals  to  measure  pollice  verso  so  to  speak, 
real  human  beings  by  an  ideal,  so  that  their  value  may  be  reduced 
to  any  desired  extent.  The  revengefulness  of  the  rejected  wife 
manifests  itself  preferably  in  those  neurotic  symptoms  in  which 
frigidity  plays  the  principal  role.  The  purpose  of  this  is  to 
contest  with  the  husband,  the  male  force,  to  show  him,  even 
where  there  is  perfect  accord,  limits  of  his  power  and  thus  to 
secure  a  considerable  superiority. 

That  this  powerful  construction  is  the  result  cf  an  original 
feeling  of  deficiency  which  demands  compensation  becomes 
apparent  from  more  thorough  analysis.  Ordinarily  the  apper- 
ception of  an  under-estimation  of  an  analogous  fear  or  of  a  wish 
of  this  nature  takes  place  after  the  picture  of  the  antithesis  of 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  105 

"  man — woman,"  in  accordance  with  which  the  maximation  of 
the  ego-consciousnesss  is  felt  and  valued  as  "  masculine,"  the 
lowering  as  "  feminine."  Or  instead  of  the  feeling  of  being 
under-estimated,  in  a  phantasy  or  dream  of  a  castration  (feminine) 
a  loss  of  the  penis  arises  as  a  symbol.  Very  often  the  masculine 
guiding  line  which  had  already  played  an  important  role  in  the 
previous  history  penetrates  into  the  neurosis  as  an  essential  or 
accessory  component  and  accentuates  the  manly  traits  as  soon  as 
the  ego-consciousness  enters  into  the  question,  a  circumstance 
which  as  a  rule  is  very  striking  in  women. 

Aside  from  the  predisposition  to  jealousy  a  large  number  of 
other  symptoms  are  manifested  in  female  neurotics,  which 
originate  from  the  adherence  to  the  masculine  guiding  line. 
These  symptoms  usually  have  reference  to  love  or  to  the  sexual 
relation  and  claim  may  be  made  to  many  causes  as  their 
foundation,  instead  of  the  only  right  one,  the  desire  to  be  a  man, 
which  as  far  as  possible  seeks  realization.  This  inclination  to 
love  and  ' '  manage  ' '  then  continues  throughout  the  entire  life 
or  this  form  of  the  masculine  guiding  line  develops  in  advanced 
years  an  inner  contradiction,  a  fear  of  not  being  able  to  hold  the 
husband,  touches  the  ego-consciousness  and  causes  constantly 
varying  neurotic,  erotic  disturbances.  These  variations  are 
dependent  on  the  fact  that  the  new  guiding  line,  to  win  a 
husband,  in  order  thereby  to  elevate  the  feeling  of  personal 
worth,  contains  within  itself  a  contradiction  :  the  lowering  of  the 
feeling  of  personality  by  assuming  the  feminine  r61e.  In  such 
cases  often  the  neurotic  system  of  indecision  awakens  and 
extends  to  the  most  banal  relations  of  life,  until  the  real  situation 
is  understood  to  depend  upon  the  hermaphroditic  attitude  of  the 
subject  from  which  the  impulse  of  indecision  and  doubt  takes  its 
source.  Every  decision  calls  up  an  antithetical  reaction  in  the 
opposing  consciousness  which  is  then  felt  and  valued  after  the 
antithesis  of  "  man — woman  "  so  that  the  patient  either 
simultaneously  or  in  immediate  sequence  plays  a  feminine  and 
then  a  masculine  role.  The  following  case  may  be  considered 
as  a  visible  example  of  such  a  condition  : 

A  girl  30  years  of  age,  who  earned  her  living  by  teaching, 
complained  of  uneasiness,  constant  doubt,  insomnia  and  thoughts 
of  suicide.  Since  the  death  of  the  father  she  had  taken  care  of 
the  whole  family,  thus  taking  the  place  of  the  man,  the  provider, 
and  in  her  phantasies  and  dreams  is  a  beast  of  burden,  a  horse 
that  must  draw  all  the  load.  She  works  until  she  is  exhausted 
and  sacrifices  everything  to  her  brother  and  to  her  sister.  As  far 
back  as  she  can  remember,  she  has  always  wished  she  had  been 
a  man.  As  a  child,  she  had  sturdy  boyish  traits  and  at  15  years 
of  age  was  still  mistaken  for  a  boy  at  bathing  places. 

I 


io6  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

Von  Neusser  has  called  attention  to  these  bodily  traits  of  the 
opposite  sex  where  constitutional  anomaly  could  be  shown  in  his 
work  on  the  status  thymico-lymphaticus.  Also  in  my  work  on 
neurology,  I  have  emphasized  the  rinding  of  bodily  traits  of  the 
opposite  sex  and  could  prove  concerning  them  that  they  are  often 
made  use  of  by  neurotics,  either  for  giving  prominence  to  the 
inferiority  in  cases  where  the  femininity  is  accentuated  or  for 
expressing  the  "  masculine  protest."  The  previous  observations 
of  Flies  who  as  well  as  Halvan  directed  my  attention  to  this  field, 
do  not  take  into  consideration  the  psychic  mechanisms  as  I 
understand  them. 

In  one  variety,  this  female  patient  revealed  the  masculine 
protest  on  the  very  first  day  by  refusing  sharply,  gratuitous 
treatment.  She  would  receive  no  gifts,  she  repeated  emphatically 
several  times  in  succession  and  she  subsequently  explained  to  me 
in  the  manner  with  which  I  was  already  acquainted  that  it  was 
unmanly  to  receive  gifts.  Therefore  she  had  always  refused 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  she  herself  gave  willingly,  something 
she  often  practiced  in  the  family  in  her  role  of  father. 

From  her  history,  I  emphasize  one  incident  as  of  importance. 
An  uncle  had  attempted  to  violate  her  in  her  eighth  year.  In  her 
terror,  she  had  remained  passive,  but  had  never  mentioned  the 
attack.  After  her  neurosis  had  made  some  progress,  she  had 
forced  herself  to  the  idea  that  as  a  child  she  was  already  a  sinful 
creature  and  capable  of  yielding  to  any  one,  and  that  she  had 
always  remained  the  same.  Thus  we  have  the  application  of  a 
souvenir  for  the  purpose  of  re-assurance  with  which  we  are 
already  acquainted,  for  the  course  of  this  train  of  thought  was  that 
up  to  her  thirtieth  year  of  life  she  had  yielded  to  all  men. 

From  her  tenth  year  to  the  twenty-fifth  year  she  asserted  that 
she  had  practiced  masturbation  excessively.  She  developed 
therefrom  a  strong  feeling  of  guilt,  augmented  the  conviction  of 
her  sinfulness,  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  she  had 
rendered  herself  eternally  unworthy  to  enter  into  matrimony. 
This  conviction  was  bound  to  have  an  extensive  influence  on  her 
attitude  toward  men. 

The  usual  role  of  masturbation  in  neuroses  is  as  follows,  that 
in  consequence  thereof,  a  sensation  of  a  feeling  of  guilt 
arises,  but  at  the  same  time  from  the  possibility  of  dispensing 
with  a  partner,  the  feeling  of  security  from  being  under  the 
influence  of  a  partner.  The  analogy  with  those  cases  where  the 
same  security  is  sought  by  strengthening  the  defects  of  childhood, 
enuresis,  stuttering  or  other  neurotic  symptoms  is  obvious.  The 
original  feeling  of  inferiority  remains  behind  as  an  echo,  fills 
itself  with  phantasies  of  feminine  deficiencies  and  feelings  of 
guilt  and  forces  the  individual  to  strive  for  the  manly  guiding 
point.  The  conduct  of  our  female  patient  is  constructed  accord- 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  107 

ing  to  the  guiding  line  which  may  be  expressed  in  the  words,  "  I 
wish  to  be  a  man." 

A  few  years  ago,  a  compulsory  idea  took  hold  of  her  \\hich 
clearly  reflects  our  idea  of  the  neurosis.  The  patient  believed 
that  she  had  lost  through  masturbation  a  part  of  the  genital  region 
which  extended  forward  and  which  according  to  her  description 
seemed  to  her  to  be  a  penis.  Now  she  had  become  wholly  unfit 
for  marriage,  because  she  could  not  live  through  it  if  her  husband 
should  hear  of  her  sins.  The  security  seems  to  be  thus  entirely 
assured  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  she  brings  her  fictitious 
masculine  guiding  principle  as  an  ideal  in  contrast  with  her  real 
femininity,  emphasizes  the  latter  and  feels  inferior,  yet  by  this 
very  expedient  seeks  to  exempt  herself  from  a  feminine  role  in 
reality. 

But  even  this  assurance,  however  strong  it  might  seem,  became 
in  time  insufficient  to  satisfy  the  ideal  of  personal  value  of  our 
patient.  Her  female  friends  deserted  her  in  order  to  marry,  and 
when  finally  her  younger  sister  married,  her  guiding  line  became 
no  longer  tenable  because  her  ambition  strove  also  for  "  mastery 
over  men."  She  decided  arbitrarily,  as  nervous  girls  with 
extreme  indecision  usually  do,  to  take  the  first  best.  She  went 
to  a  masquerade  where  she  became  acquainted  with  a  worthy 
man  who  wished  to  marry  her  after  a  short  acquaintance.  During 
a  trip  she  yielded  to  him  because,  as  she  said,  she  feared  that  by 
contact  he  might  become  aware  of  the  defect  of  her  genital 
organs  and  leave  her  disgraced  and  she  would  rather  have  any- 
thing else  happen  to  her.  When  later  the  man  in  a  friendly  way 
insisted  on  her  telling  him  if  he  were  her  first  lover  and  why  she 
had  become  so  cold  she  threw  him  overboard  with  the  untruthful 
explanation  that  she  had  had  relations  with  other  men.  There- 
upon the  man  broke  off  the  affair. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  now  followed.  The  patient  who 
was  already  constantly  grieving  over  another  loss  than  that  of  her 
masculinity,  beheld  herself  thwarted  and  deprived  of  her  new 
masculine  triumph.  She  recalled  her  lie  which,  as  she  sought  to 
explain  to  me  later,  she  had  told  in  order  to  punish  the  man  for 
having  conquered  her,  in  order  to  deprive  him  of  worth.  She 
explained  to  him  the  facts,  but  he  withdrew  entirely,  for  the  most 
part  from  fear  of  further  discords  in  a  marriage  with  this  neurotic 
girl.  Thereupon  our  patient  became  passionately  in  love  with 
him,  made  a  god  of  him,  passed  sleepless  nights  in  thoughts  of 
him,  and  took  an  oath  to  have  him  or  no  other  husband,  for  this 
one  was  in  all  human  probability  lost  to  her.  Thus  by  means  of 
various  expedients  of  her  neurosis  she  had  returned  to  her  original 
guiding  line,  and  had  gained  a  fictitious  ideal  and  up  to  the  time 
of  her  treatment,  had  succeeded  in  avoiding  the  feminine  r61e. 


io8  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

In  psychotherapeutic  treatment,  special  attention  should  be 
given  to  prevent  this  blindly  working  tendency  to  depreciation  of 
the  patient  from  making  the  physician  himself  a  victim,  as  the 
condition  of  disease  is  regularly  used  as  a  means  of  depriving  the 
psychotherapeutist  of  his  worth.  The  patient  may  do  this  by 
following  the  ordinary  direction  which  his  disease  takes  only  with 
a  sharper  tone,  because  he  strengthens  the  symptoms,  or 
originates  new  ones,  and  tries  to  supply  tense  relations, 
frequently  also  situations  of  love  and  friendship,  but  always  with 
the  intention  (which  is  the  result  of  his  neurotic  tendency,  of 
the  masculine  protest)  of  becoming  master  of  the  physician,  of 
giving  him  a  setback,  of  making  him  play  a  "feminine"  part,  of 
annihilating  his  worth.  The  tactical  and  pedagogic  expedients  to 
which  one  is  obliged  to  resort  in  order  to  weaken  this  struggle 
of  the  patient  against  the  physician,  in  order  to  render  it  compre- 
hensible and  in  order  to  demonstrate  in  this  way  the  neurotic 
conduct  or  attitude  of  the  patient  in  life  generally,  become  an 
important  factor  in  the  therapeusis.  The  silent  protest  of  the 
neurotic  should  not  however  be  undervalued,  and  one  should  be 
on  the  lookout  for  it  to  the  very  end  of  the  treatment,  laying 
special  stress  upon  it  towards  its  termination.  It  should  be 
viewed  with  quiet,  objective  composure,  as  the  matter-of-fact 
aggressiveness  of  the  patient  and  as  having  the  same  value  as  has 
the  neurosis,  inasmuch  as  it  furnishes  the  neurotic  predispositions 
and  traits.  Freud's  hypothesis  of  transference  will  be  referred 
to  again  later.  It  is  nothing  more  than  an  expedient  of  the 
patient  who  seeks  to  rob  the  physician  of  superiority.  Bezzola 
and  others  have  described  the  circuitous  ways  in  which  the 
neurotic  patient  seeks  to  deprive  physicians  of  their  value.  It  is 
always  the  masculine  guiding  line  which  is  revealed,  the  purpose 
of  which  is  to  assure  the  patient's  superiority.  The  most  usual 
manner  of  enhancing  his  tendency  to  aggression,  the  neurotic 
finds  by  holding  fast  to  his  symptoms,  because  these  in  themselves 
present  a  phase  of  his  aggressive  tendency. 

An  extract  from  a  history  of  a  patient  shortly  before  the  end  of 
her  treatment  reveals  (in  the  form  of  an  unfriendly  impulse)  this 
effort  to  deprive  the  physician  of  value  as  a  psychic  predisposition 
of  her  "  masculine  protest."  The  patient  was  placed  under 
treatment  because  of  an  anxiety  and  was  crying  out  at  night.  She 
was  a  virgin,  36  years  of  age.  I  will  begin  the  description  of  this 
neurotic  picture  with  the  following  dream  : 

"7  was  lying  at  your  feet  and  reached  upward  with  my  hand 
trying  to  grasp  your  clothes  which  were  silk.  You  made  a 
lascivious  gesture,  whereupon  I  said  laughingly,  '  You  are  then 
no  better  than  the  other  men!'  You  confirmed  this  with  a 
nod." 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  109 

Those  who,  following  Freud's  interpretation  of  dreams,  place 
the  sexual  wish-motive  in  the  foreground,  will  not  be  at  a  loss 
for  an  interpretation  ;  the  requirements  for  a  sexual  basis  for  the 
dream  were  fully  supplied.  The  requirements  could  also  be 
complied  with,  as  the  patient  had  already  done,  by  bringing 
forward  a  reminiscence  from  childhood,  when  she  solicited  her 
father  in  a  similar  manner  ;  her  neurotic  tendency  to  attain 
security  had  indeed  carefully  collected  all  admonitory  experiences, 
in  order  to  use  the  man  in  an  "  anaphylactic  "  manner  against 
repetitions.  Indeed,  one  could  easily  get  the  assent  of  the  patient 
to  ascribe  to  repressed  impulses  of  the  will  the  emergence  of 
souvenirs  of  like  tendency  and  the  present  experiences.  For  her 
neurotic  psyche  sees  such  exaggerations  as  real  remembrances 
and  makes  them  her  basis  of  operation,  which  she  does  by  affirm- 
ing her  conviction  of  inferiority,  of  her  fault,  of  her  sin,  of  her 
too  feminine  nature,  in  order  to  defend  with  greater  vehemence 
her  superiority,  her  manliness  and  to  increase  her  foresight. 
This  increased  masculine  protest,  however,  which  has  its  source 
in  the  defective  perspective  of  the  patient  who  is  overfearful,  can 
not  but  naturally  increase  the  neurosis.  The  destruction  of  this 
false  perspective  first  (the  foundation  of  the  neurotic  apper- 
ception), and  the  damming  up  of  the  fictitious  influx  in  the 
direction  of  the  masculine  protest,  and  finally  a  right  under- 
standing of  the  superstitious  faith  in  an  abstract  guiding  line  and 
the  apotheosis  of  the  same  are  the  levers  which  must  be  used  to 
remove  neurosis. 

Our  patient  had  begun  a  liaison  with  a  married  man  about  the 
time  of  this  dream.  When  he  pressed  himself  upon  her  and 
invited  her  to  his  .house  during  his  wife's  absence  at  a  watering 
place,  she  was  troubled  with  all  sorts  of  scruples,  which  I 
strengthened  considerably.  Nevertheless,  she  justified  the 
relation  and  "played  with  the  fire"  because  she  said  the 
impatient  writhing  of  the  man  amused  her.  Incidentally,  her  way 
of  regarding  the  subject  was  an  inimical  act  directed  against  her 
relatives  and  against  me  her  monitor.  Her  own  understanding 
could  be  interpreted  as  a  reasonable  excuse.  But  the  previous 
history  of  the  patient,  and  her  conduct  during  her  illness  which 
lasted  twenty  years,  and  during  her  treatment,  showed  plainly 
that  she  was  strongly  under  the  influence  of  the  masculine 
protest,  and  that  she  could  have  demanded  the  subjugation  of 
the  man,  but  that  she  must  have  refused  to  play  a  feminine  role — 
(she  suffered  from  anxiety  states  and  crying  out  in  terror  at 
night).  The  central  point  of  her  psychic  attitude  consisted  in 
fear  of  the  man  to  whom  she  believed  she  was  not  equal,  a  fear 
which  she  sought  to  compensate  by  her  own  masculine  bearing 
and  by  the  lower  estimation  of  men. 

After  this  information  concerning  the  patient,  we  could  venture 


no  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

to  interpret  the  dream.  She  exaggerated  her  physical  dependence 
on  me  and  gave  this  conviction  form  by  clothing  it  in  a  dream 
image  which  is  admirably  suited  for  this  purpose.  "  As  though 
I  lay  at  your  feet."  This  being  "  below  "  was  taken  as  a  basis 
of  operation  and  we  could  rightly  expect  that  the  manly  impetus 
would  follow  the  construction  of  a  fictitious  feminine  role.  She 
reached  upwards  with  the  hands.  The  contamination  contained 
my  deprivation  of  masculinity.  I  wore  a  silk  dress.  The  same 
psychic  mechanism  hovers  in  the  remaining  part  of  the  dream. 
I  had  admonished  the  patient — in  the  dream  I  made  a  lascivious 

festure  of  which  the  seducer  had  been  guilty,  that  is  to  say  that. 
am  on  the  same  level,  "  I  also  am  not  better  than  the  other 
men."  Besides  this  to  carry  out  the  idea  further,  I  was  silent 
and  showed  assent  by  a  gesture  in  the  dream.  The  opposite 
thought  that  I  could  be  better  is  insupportable  to  the  patient ; 
from  it,  which  gives  me  a  sort  of  superiority,  originates  the 
preventative  dream  fiction  constructed  after  the  neurotic 
perspective.  The  patient  only  felt  secure  when  all  men  were  alike 
bad.  Then  she  is  following  her  old  guiding  line  and  feels 
superior.  Her  superiority  is  reflected  by  her  laughing  in  the 
dream  as  well  as  by  my  silence. 

The  circumstance  that  she  began  this  first  dangerous  liasion 
with  a  married  man  is  worthy  of  attention.  In  all  similar  cases, 
such  a  relation  may  be  recognized  as  an  effort  to  obtain  security 
from  marriage,  usually  also  from  sexual  relations.  The  masculine 
guiding  line  is  preserved,  but  reality  asserts  itself  by  feminine 
excitements  and  emotions.  It  is  as  I  have  frequently  pointed  out, 
a  masculine  protest  made  with  feminine  means  which  recalls  to 
me  the  fact  of  psychic  hermaphroditism.  Finally,  too,  the 
superiority  over  the  lawful  wife  asserts  itself  in  the  three-cornered 
arrangement,  something  which  in  all  analogous  cases  strengthens 
to  an  unusual  degree  the  motive  force. 

If  we  now  proceed  as  it  were  to  a  comparative  psychology  and 
wish  to  bring  to  conscious  expression  the  component  parts  of  the 
foundation  of  the  apperception  of  this  patient  and  put  the  question 
before  us,  whence  these  psychic  preparations  which  lead  to  the 
attempt  of  unmanning  the  man  by  feminine  means  in  order  to 
enhance  thereby  her  feeling  of  worth  in  a  masculine  direction  and 
to  surpass  a  woman's,  the  answer  is  :  From  her  relation  to  her 
father  and  mother.  There  she  derived  the  preparation  to 
approach  the  father  with  love  and  esteem  as  a  guiding  ideal, 
learned  to  master  him  and  had  thus  shown  herself  superior  to  the 
mother.  If  one  abstracts  the  masculine  protest  of  the  neurotic 
child  and  if  one  apperceives  these  conditions  (as  neurotics  often 
do)  in  a  sexual  scheme  the  "  incest  complex  "  remains.  One  can 
now,  as  I  have  shown  in  former  works,  take  out  of  the  incest 
complex  again  what  the  masculine  guiding  line  has  placed  in  it, 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  in 

namely,  the  assurance  of  the  feeling  of  personal  worth  under  the 
title  of  an  amative  condition.  In  the  literature  on  psycho-analysis, 
the  assertion  emerges  constantly  that  the  libido  of  the  neurotic 
is  fixed  on  the  father  or  on  the  mother,  on  which  account  he  seeks 
similar  amative  conditions  which  are  in  reality  that  which  was 
loved  in  the  parents.  The  "  will  to  power  and  to  seem  " 
constitutes  the  only  amative  condition  and  this  guiding  point  the 
neurotic  seeks  with  all  caution,  but  invariably,  with  all  his 
practiced  preventive  precautions  which  have  originated  from  and 
have  exclusive  value  from  the  craving  for  security  and  which 
resist  any  change.  The  significance  of  the  amative  feeling  is  no 
other  than  the  assurance  of  the  ego-consciousness,  and  with  this 
the  exclusive  influence  of  the  same  further  betrays  that  the  motive 
force  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  masculine  protest  which  has 
already  constructed  the  incest  constellation.  Where,  as  in  many 
cases,  the  attachment  to  one  of  the  parents  is  clearly  obvious,  it 
is  contracted  with  a  purpose,1  arranged  in  order  to  escape 
decisions  concerning  other  partners,  to  escape  marriage.  Then 
usually  the  neurotic  has  destroyed  the  tendency  to  love  and 
marriage  as  inconsistent  with  the  masculine  final  purpose,  or  has 
not  developed  it. 

The  original  of  the  "  three-cornered  situation,"  the  incest 
situation,  resolves  itself  on  closer  examination  into  an  affair 
caused  by  the  megalomania  of  the  child  who  already  reveals  all 
the  characteristics  of  one  predisposed  to  neurosis,  i.e.,  envy, 
obstinacy,  insatiableness,  precocity.  Without  the  sexual  appetite 
really  taking  part  therein,  thoughts  and  reflections  of  the  child 
may  come  to  light  which  are  later  valued  and  represented  as 
sexual  when  the  neurotic  tendency  to  gain  security  seeks  to  make 
such  a  connection.  "  I  was  already  as  a  child,  so  beyond  bounds, 
so  culpable,  my  sexual  appetite  was  so  strong,  I  have  such  a 
criminal  tendency,  I  am  so  much  the  slave  of  love,"  these  are  the 
echoes  in  the  soul  of  the  adult  neurotic.  '  Therefore  I  must  be 
careful."  The  impulse  to  hold  certain  appropriate  memories, 
to  falsifications  of  memory,  to  exaggerating  traces  of  memories 
arises  from  a  fear  of  a  defeat  in  lire.  And  where  the  sexual 
appetite  has  really  been  revealed,  where  the  possibility  of  incest 
really  existed,  the  memory  is  preserved  as  an  admonitory  sign. 
That  which  diverts  the  neurotic  psyche  is  not  memory  or 
reminiscence,  but  the  fictitious  final  purpose  which  has  derived 
profitable  situations  therefrom.  It  is  nearly  the  same  if  these 
reminiscences  have  been  repressed  by  the  conscious  ego,  thrust 
back  into  the  unconscious.  The  neurotic  character  and  the  other 
psychic  gestures  with  their  unconscious  mechanism  are  none  the 
less  opposed  to  disposition  in  proper  order  in  reality. 

1  In  accordance  with  the  life-plan,  the  finale. 


1 12  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

Thus  it  was  in  the  case  of  our  female  patient.  She  related, 
for  example,  that  she  always  wished  to  win  the  father  to  her  side 
and  that  she  accomplished  this  by  carefully  falling  in  with  his 
train  of  thought  and  his  wishes.  It  was  not  difficult  to  leave  her 
mother.  From  the  age  of  fourteen,  she  began  to  refuse  to  kiss 
him  because  she  began  to  feel  a  peculiar  erotic  emotion.  In 
explanation  of  this,  I  might  add  that  the  patient  had  from  her 
twelfth  year  manifested  unmistakable  signs  of  a  neurosis.  Her 
situation  at  that  time  permits  us  to  understand  the  significance 
of  this  attempt  at  security — through  the  construction  of  erotic 
preparations.  She  had  always  been  a,n  unruly,  boyish  creature 
who  had  already  learned  to  feel  the  force  of  the  sexual  appetite 
and  for  some  time  had  already  practiced  masturbation.  About 
this  time  also,  men  began  to  make  advances  to  her  to  which  she 
reacted  with  extreme  anxiety.  Her  craving  for  security  had 
progressed  so  far  that  the  patient  had  strengthened  the  anxiety 
preparedness  which  had  been  constructed  out  of  real  emotions 
of  anxiety  which  she  had  originally  felt,  and  now  she  was  able, 
whenever  she  feared  a  defeat  in  the  sense  of  being  obliged  to  play 
a  feminine  role,  any  possible  cause  of  which  she  was  on  the  alert 
to  anticipate,  to  develop  in  a  hallucinatory  manner,  a  condition 
of  anxiety,  so  to  speak,  to  discount  it,  such  as  would  have  corre- 
sponded for  example  to  the  eventuality  of  pregnancy.  This 
anticipation  and  hallucinatory  awakening  of  sensations  which 
correspond  to  a  fear  of  defeat  which  might  arise  in  the  future  are 
the  work  of  the  preventive  craving  for  security  and  constitute,  as 
I  have  already  emphasized,2  the  essential  part  of  hypochondria, 
of  phobia  and  of  numerous  neurasthenic  and  hysterical  symptoms. 
I  will  only  state  briefly  here  that  the  essential  part  of  a  psychosis, 
too,  depends  upon  a  similar  dogmatic  anticipatory  representation 
of  a  fear  or  a  wish,  which  the  craving  for  security  offers  for  the 
better  testimony  in  a  phase  of  great  insecurity,  in  strong 
dependence  on  the  fictitious  guiding  line  for  the  conservation  of 
the  ego-consciousness.  When  our  patient  foresaw  a  loss  of 
prestige  and  provided  against  it  by  a  condition  of  anxiety  in  a 
hallucinatory  manner  she  felt  most  secure  against  it.  At  times, 
the  hallucinatory  emotion  needed  a  further  strengthening,  then 
the  patient  arrived  at  the  compulsory  idea  that  she  had  killed 
a  new  born  child.  In  the  analysis  this  idea  in  regard  to  the  man, 
at  times  a  place  anxiety,  was  shown  to  be  connected  with  an 
admonition  of  her  mother's.  This  signifies  that  the  patient 
rescued  from  her  memories  even  the  words  of  her  mother  whom 
she  constantly  fought  against,  in  so  far  as  these  words  were 
adapted  to  her  tendency  to  seek  security.5 

3"  Siphilidophobia,"  loc.  cit. 

8  Along  with  this   the  mother   should  also  be  at   fault  with   her  apodictic 
threats. 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  113 

Among  these  preparatory  conditions  an  event  occurred  which 
favored  greatly  the  hardy  construction  of  these  preparations  for 
security.  One  of  her  cousins  gave  birth  to  a  child  out  of  wedlock, 
a  fact  which,  in  a  family  of  respectable  middle-class  people, 
caused  the  greatest  excitement,  especially  as  the  seducer  shook 
the  dust  of  the  place  from  his  feet.  Our  growing  understanding 
for  the  development  of  this  girl  permits  us  to  understand  why 
this  event  must  have  accelerated  the  development  of  the  neurosis 
and  how  it  came  that  the  words  of  the  mother  to  whom  she 
ordinarily  showed  little  attention  were  given  such  importance. 
The  patient  was  from  her  early  childhood  wild  and  boyish  and  of 
great  strength,  preferred  boys'  games  and  avoided  every 
feminine  emotion.  She  can  still  remember  with  what  vehemence 
she  refused  to  play  with  dolls  or  to  engage  in  needlework.  The 
personality  of  the  father  preponderated  over  that  of  the  mother 
to  a  remarkable  degree.  An  unmarried  aunt  who  lived  with  the 
family  of  our  patient  took  pleasure  in  her  masculine  manners, 
had  a  beardlike  growth  of  hair  and  a  masculine  voice.  To  this 
strong  and  constantly  recurring  memory  was  associated  another 
event  of  later  occurrence  and  which  furnished  the  necessary 
resonance  to  the  dominating  tendency  of  the  patient  to  wish  to 
become  a  man.  She  remembered  that  one  of  her  fellow  scholars 
with  whom  she  had  long  been  associated — a  pseudo  herma- 
phrodite— was  changed  into  a  man.  These  and  similar 
communications — for  example,  the  special  interest  for  herma- 
phroditism,  are  sufficient  according  to  my  experience  for  the 
preliminary  assumption  that  patients  of  this  sort  wish  to  divest 
themselves  of  the  appearance  of  femininity,  and  wish  to  assume 
masculine  characteristics,  as  though  they  fully  believed  in  the 
possibility  of  a  metamorphosis  and  that  they  invariably  make  an 
attempt  to  push  forward  to  the  manly  role  which  is  considered 
by  them  to  be  the  higher.  Among  these  attempts  to  change  fate 
two  interest  us  particularly — the  formation  of  the  neurotic 
character  and  the  neurotic  preparations  in  the  form  of  the 
neuroses  and  their  symptoms. 

As  a  trait  of  character  which  is  not  rare  with  such  patients,  I 
may  cite  the  tendency  to  expose  nakedness,  and  indeed  in 
childhood  or  in  later  years,  in  dreams,  in  phantasy  or  in  neurotic 
attacks  during  which  they  tear  the  clothes  from  the  body  as 
though  they  would  divest  themselves  of  the  modesty  which  they 
regard  as  feminine,  as  though  they  wished  to  make  a  parade  of 
fictitious  large  masculine  genital  organs  and  thus  belittle  others. 
It  may  be  seen  from  these  cases  how  one  perversion,  that  of 
exhibitionism,  does  not  originate  from  a  congenital  sexual 
constitution,  but  that  the  neurosis  which  seeks  to  secure  the  ego- 
consciousness  is  impelled  to  suppress  the  feeling  of  inferiority, 
to  overcome  it  because  in  this  neurosis  the  lively  desire  to  be  a 


1 14  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

complete  man,  to  be  of  great  account,  finds  expression.  The 
sexual  jargon  is  there — in  merely  a  form  of  expression  an  "  as- 
if "  of  the  sexual  content  of  the  thought  or  want,  only  a  symbol 
of  the  scheme  of  life.  Also  the  feminine,  exaggerated  modesty 
of  such  patients  is  an  expedient  in  the  opposite  direction  for  the 
purpose  of  deceiving  concerning  the  lack  of  masculinity/  The 
absence  of  modesty  in  such  cases  answers  for  the  desired 
masculinity,  is  the  masculine  protest,  and  more  marked 
immodesty  points  invariably  to  disquieting  dreams  or  thoughts 
concerning  curtailed  genital  organs  and  hence  releases  feelings 
of  protest  of  a  masculine  nature  which  considerably  strengthen 
the  line  of  ambition,  of  the  desire  to  be  first,  to  possess  every- 
thing, of  obstinacy.  In  the  further  development  of  the  neurosis 
the  desire  for  mastery  and  for  conquest  as  well  as  the  tendency 
to  deprive  others  of  worth  may  assert  itself  in  the  form  of 
castration  phantasies  and  their  rationalization  (Jones).  The 
inclination  to  disarm  the  partner,  to  constantly  feel  the  assurance 
of  superiority  which  regularly  constitutes  the  content  of 
exhibitionism  are  often  met  with.  At  times,  the  lack  of  neatness 
and  indecency  in  girls  may  be  interpreted  as  a  trace  of  the 
desire  for  masculinity. 

All  of  these  traits  of  character  although  they  at  times  seemed 
contradictory  were  all  active  in  one  direction  toward  the  fictitious 
final  goal  in  this  patient.  It  was  not  difficult  to  discover  a  period 
of  uncertainty  in  her  early  childhood  as  preliminary  to  her 
affectation  of  masculine  traits,  where  she,  because  of  lack  of 
insight,  misled  by  boyish  traits  and  her  compensatory  ambition, 
cherished  the  hope  of  metamorphosing  herself  at  some  future 
time  into  a  man.  This  final  purpose  of  developing  from  a 
hermaphroditic  condition  to  a  male  is  easy  to  perceive  if  her 
boyish  characteristics  are  understood  as  preparations  for  her 
fictitious  final  goal.  Here  also  belongs  her  inclination  to  put 
on  boys'  clothes,  a  phenomenon  which  as  with  Hirschfeld's 
'  Transvertiter  "  flows  from  the  psychic  dynamic  just  described. 
Her  ideal  was _  particularly  distinct  in  the  phantasies  and  day 
dreams  of  her  childhood.  Influenced  by  fairy  stories  and  myths 
("  Dwarf  Nose,"  "  Thousand  and  One  Nights,"  etc.)  she 
imagined  the  most  varied  changes  went  on  in  her,  sometimes 
believed  herself  changed  into  a  Nix  or  mermaid,  in  which  form  a 
fish  tail  terminated  the  lower  parts  of  the  body,  which  is 
indicative  of  the  peculiar  sense.  At  this  time  a  distinct  neurotic 
symptom  set  in,  in  this  connection  ;  she  could  not  walk  at  time?, 
as  if,  instead  of  legs,  she  had  a  fish  tail.  Also  a  shoe  fetichism 
in  this  connection  showed  the  masculine  tendency  and  developed 
in  the  form  that  she  insisted  on  wearing  large  shoes,  we  might 
say  masculine  shoes,  because  her  feet  hurt.  From  Ovid's 

4  Atller — The  masculine  attitude  in  female,  neurotics,  etc. 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  115 

Metamorphosis  which  in  her  rage  for  reading  soon  fell  into  her 
hands,  she  borrowed  another  fiction  which  emerged  during  her 
treatment  in  her  dreams ;  she  imagined  she  had  been 
metamorphosed  in  such  a  way  that  the  lower  part  of  her  body 
became  a  firmly  rooted  trunk.  In  this  and  in  similar  ways,  she 
gave  to  herself  the  answer  to  the  question  concerning  her  future 
sexual  role. 

We  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  that  in  this  and  similar  cases,, 
the  attitude  towards  woman  was  also  influenced  by  the  masculine 
final  goal.  In  the  preparations  for  the  future  the  amative  and 
sexual  relations  must  have  had  a  place  and  therefore  we  soon 
find  our  patient  assuming  the  ideal  masculine  role  of  protector 
to  a  younger  and  weaker  sister.  Furthermore,  there  were 
sadistic  acts  towards  little  girls  and  servants,  but  also  towards 
little,  girlish  boys.  Thus  we  find  in  the  masculine  guiding  line 
of  the  patient  an  intermixture  of  secondary  features,  auxiliary 
traits  of  homosexuality5  and  masculine  sadism,  whose  arrange- 
ment resulted  from  the  construction  of  the  masculine 
predispositions  and  which  is  the  only  possible  substitute  if 
masculine  sexuality  were  selected  by  her  neurotic  apperception 
from  the  impressions  of  life.  As  will  be  shown,  both  of  these 
perversions  are  circuitous  ways  and  expedients,  secondary 
guiding  lines  which  grow  out  of  the  exaggerated  masculine 
protest.  The  question  concerning  a  constitutional  tendency  to 
perversions  is  wholly  irrelevant,  because  the  neurosis  seeking 
assurance  and  choosing  its  material  in  conformity  with  this 
tendency  can  fasten  upon  the  most  harmless  relations,  lend  to 
them  proportions  and  value  which  may  become  immeasurable  in 
so  far  as  the  neurosis  requires  this  by  exaggerating  them  and 
lending  them  high  values. 

One  day  as  the  patient,  now  fourteen  years  of  age,  was 
accosted  by  a  man  on  the  stairs  who  made  advances  to  her,  an 
insane  idea  developed  on  this  foundation  which  is  easy  to  see 
through.  She  imagined  herself  for  many  months  the  murderer 
of  domestic  servants  (Hugo  Schenk)  and  thus"  by  means  of 
extreme  abstractions  which  were  introduced  for  the  purpose  of 
security,  she  effected  an  interlacing  of  her  masculine,  her  homo- 
sexual and  her  sadistic  fiction,  while  she  brought  them  to  more 
distinct  expression  and  at  the  same  time  held  herself  in 
anticipation  of  an  event  which  she  feared.  These  three  conditions, 
mere  abstractions  from  reality,  strengthening  of  guiding  lines 
leading  to  masculinity  and  upwards,  and  anticipation  of  the 
directing  ideal  mostly  in  a  disguised  form,  are  the  fundamental 
components  of  the  psychotic  construction.  The  role  of  indigenous 

8  Moll  has  emphasized  sharply  the  frequent  association  of  homosexuality 
with  exhibitionism.  Our  discussion  reveals  the  inner  relationship.  Both  per- 
verse tendencies  are  expressions  of  the.  masculine  protest. 


u6  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

and  exogenous  poisons  consists  in  many  cases  in  the  circumstance 
that  these  call  up  a  feeling  of  heightened  insecurity  which  can 
also  result  from  psychic  experiences.  But  the  neurotic  tendency 
toward  security,  which  is  strengthened  in  cases  of  increased 
uncertainty,  is  always  the  effective  cause  of  the  psychotic 
construction.  It  then  draws  more  forcibly  into  its  powers  the 
neurotic  method  of  apperception  and  thus  causes  a  "  barring  off  " 
(abspewung).  The  use  of  female  domestic  servants  in  the 
psychic  construction  of  our  patient  brings  to  expression  the 
tendency  to  depreciation  of  females.  In  her  insane  system  anxiety 
is  strongly  manifested  and  is  distinctly  recognizable  as  a  means 
to  obtain  security  against  the  male  and  thus  coordinated  to  the 
purpose  of  her  insanity,  constituting  a  second  expression  of  her 
aggravated  masculine  protest.* 

A  further  perversion  of  our  patient  of  which  she  was  dimly 
conscious  consisted  in  a  fellatio  phantasy.  The  realities 
connected  therewith  and  which  found  application  in  the 
neurotic  tendency  of  her  phantasy  were  well  known  to  the 
patient.  She  had  always  been  very  dainty  and  as  a  child  had 
always  been  a  slave  to  this  tendency.  Even  to-day  this  character- 
istic often  asserts  itself.  But  it  happened  not  infrequently  that 
she  took  loathsome  things  into  her  mouth  without  disgust.  In 
her  avoidance  of  the  feminine  role  this  patient  tried,  because 
parturition  seemed  to  her  unacceptable  and  especially  feminine, 
to  imagine  this  perverse  situation  temporarily  possible.  The 
suggestion  originated  from  a  conversation  which  she  had  over- 
heard. This  perversion  was  asserted  of  a  female  neighbor  living 
independently  and  in  pleasant  relations.  Early  forced  away 
from  the  partner,  she  nevertheless  sought  to  keep  in  touch  with 
reality  and  found  in  the  avoidance  of  labor,  supported  by  her 
exaggerated  leaning  to  disgusting  procedures  the  way  to  this, 
perverse  phantasy.  But  her  masculine  protest  opposed  even  this. 
Her  crying  out  at  night  was  as  a  rule  over  dream  situations  of 
this  sort,  arranged  tentatively,  and  with  this  masculine  protest, 
she  answered  to  the  femininely  perverse  role  which  she  imputed 
to  herself. 

The  psychic  attitude  of  the  patient  described  at  the  beginning 
shows  the  essential  difference.  At  least  a  part  of  her  fear  of  the 
man  and  of  the  masculine  protest  was  present  which  after  a 
short  time  made  room  for  a  normal  attitude.  What  could  make 
one  apprehensive  was  the  disposition  to  a  difficult,  socially 
inferior  situation  which  could  only  be  obviated  by  further  inroads. 

6  The  accentuation  of  the  fictitious  guiding  line  in  the  neurotic  who  becomes 
insecure  ie  responsible  for  the  fact  that  he  has  to  utilize  stronger  measures  for 
the  purpose  of  gaining  security.  Anxiety  where  another  merely  visualizes, 
hypochondriasis  where  another  employs  caution.  Our  patient  had  both  the 
anxiety  and  the  delusion  where  for  other  girla  morality  and  caution  were  still 
sufficient  Thus  also  in  place  of  caution,  hallucinations,  and  fears. 


ASCETICISM,  LOVE,  ETC.  117 

Could  there,  however,    be    expected    a    much    more    favorable 
solution  of  the  problem  of  this  patient  who  has  declined  and  who 
has  been  robbed  of  all  social  connections  by  the  long  duration 
s*  of  the  neurosis,  and  is  destitute  ? 

With  all  the  solidity  and  obstinacy  which  cling  to  neurotic 
symptoms  and  the  neurotic  character  there  is  often  a  change- 
ableness  and  instability  which  has  attracted  the  attention  of  many 
writers.  The  character  of  capriciousness,  of  uncertainty  of 
temper,  of  suggestibility  and  of  susceptibility  to  influence  (Janet, 
Striimpell,  Raimann  and  others)  was  wrongly  given,  as  an 
important  sign  of  a  psychogenic  affection.  But  attention  must, 
however,  be  called  to  the  fact  that  in  psychic  phenomena  which, 
as  we  have  shown,  only  present  means,  modes  of  expression  and 
purposeful  dispositions,  variability  must  often  be  preserved 
among  the  other  characteristics,  because  it  may  also  occur  as  an 
auxiliary  line  and  serve  the  fictitious  final  goal,  the  maximating  of 
the  ego-consciousness.  The  neurotic  self-valuation  will  at  any 
rate  take  those  variations  as  a  point  of  departure  for  a  way  of 
thinking,  will  exaggerate  the  judgment  of  weakness  by 
strengthening  the  suggestibility,  will  support  it  with  selected 
neuroses  for  the  most  part  falsely  estimated  in  order  to  gain  in 
a  neurosis  a  strengthened  impetus.  As  the  following  case 
teaches  for  example.  A  short  time  ago,  a  Viennese  physician 
brought  forward  in  a  public  session,  examples  of  making  waking 
suggestions  which  indeed  succeeded  with  a  certain  lady  on  a  few 
evenings.  When  the  same  lady  was  expected  to  offer  herself 
again  for  a  demonstration  on  a  subsequent  evening  she  responded 
•with  an  hysterical  attack  of  such  nature  that  the  further 
demonstrations  were  forbidden  by  the  police.  In  the  psycho- 
therapeutic  treatment,  one  must  always  be  prepared  for  the 
circumstance  that  the  introduction  of  the  patient  into  the 
experiment  heightens  the  masculine  protest  and  the  disposition 
to  attacks  and  is  above  all  forced  to  prevent  this  reaction.  Every 
improvement  in  the  condition  is  felt  by  the  patient  as  compulsion 
and  conquest  and  a  relapse  often  follows  from  no  other  reason 
than  that  an  improvement  had  preceded.  The  many  ambivalent 
traits  of  neurotics  and  psychotic  patients  arranged  according  tc 
a  polar  principle  (Bleuler)  are  constructed  on  the  hermaphroditic 
splitting  of  the  neurotic  psyche  and  obey  exclusively  the  ideal  of 
personal  worth  reassured  by  hypersensibility  and  great  caution. 


CHAPTER  III 

NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  :  SYMPATHY,  COQUETRY,  NARCISSISM, 
PSYCHIC  HERMAPHRODITISM,  HALLUCINATORY  SECURITY, 
VIRTUE,  CONSCIENCE,  PEDANTRY,  FANATIC  ATTACHMENT  TO 
TRUTH 

IN  our  preceding  observations  we  were  able  to  follow  the  various 
attempts,  preparations  and  dispositions  of  a  patient  which  were 
conditioned  by  the  setting  in  of  the  masculine  tendency.  The 
resulting  fear  of  the  man  was  so  great  that  every  amative  relation 
was  prevented  until  treatment  made  it  possible.  In  very  many 
cases  the  masculine  protest  manifests  itself  in  an  apparently 
opposite  direction.  The  patients  constantly  begin  new  relations 
which,  however,  easily  languish  and  are  menaced  by  peculiar 
turns  of  fortune.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  capable  of  con- 
tracting marriage  one  or  more  times  and  also  of  dissolving  the 
marriage  again.  Very  often  the  deepest  passions  of  love  are 
shown  which  are  strong  enough  to  overcome  all  obstacles  and  are 
usually  only  augmented  by  them.  The  same  phenomena  are 
observed  in  male  neurotics.  Upon  closer  observation  the  well 
known  traits  of  the  neurotic  subject  are  again  found  (first  of  all 
the  desire  for  mastery)  which  make  use  of  the  relations  of  life  as 
a  vehicle  for  realizing  themselves  demonstrably  in  the  same 
manner  as  do  his  other  characteristics.  The  desire  to  possess 
everything  finds  expression  in  such  a  way  that  all  men,  at  times, 
all  human  beings,  become  an  object  for  conquest  and  in  pursuing 
this  object,  coquetry,  necessity  for  tenderness,  and  discontent 
with  the  lot  assigned  by  fate,  play  an  important  part.  The 
preference  for  difficulties  is  often  remarkable.  A  little  girl  pre- 
fers only  big  men,  or  love  first  declares  itself  when  the  parents 
forbid  it,  while  the  attainable  is  treated  with  open  disdain.  In 
the  conversation  and  deliberation  of  such  girls  the  limiting  word 
-emerges  constantly.  They  wish  only  a  cultured,  only  a  broad, 
only  a  masculine  man,  only  a  platonic  love,  only  a  marriage  with- 
out children,  only  a  husband  who  will  permit  their  entire  liberty, 
etc.  The  tendency  toward  detraction  is  often  so  obvious  in  this 
process  that  hardly  a  man  remains  who  would  fit  the  require- 
ments. Usually  they  have  a  completed,  often  unconscious  ideal, 
in  whom  are  mingled  the  features  of  the  father,  the  brother,  an 
imaginary  personage,  or  a  literary  or  historical  character.  The 
more  we  become  acquainted  with  these  ideals,  the  more  are  we 
convinced  that  they  are  advanced  as  a  fictitious  standard  in  order 
to  detract  from  reality  by  comparison  with  them.  The  psychic 

118 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  119 

tendency  with  the  accompanying  features  of  an  "unwomanly" 
nature,  which  frequently  gives  rise  to  sexual  liberty,  unfaithful- 
ness and  unchastity,  reveals  obviously  a  striving  after  the 
masculine  ideal.  Analysis  often  shows  original  organic 
inferiority,  an  exaggerated  feeling  of  inferiority,  a  remarkable 
original  higher  estimation  of  the  male  which  follows  on  the  heels 
of  detraction  as  a  means  of  assurance.  Other  assurances 
strengthen  the  opinion  we  have  formed.  Such  ideas  as,  all  men 
are  rough,  tyrannical,  have  a  bad  odor,  are  infected,  etc.,  reveal 
the  influence  upon  apperception  of  this  trend.  In  male  neurotics 
are  observed  ideas  of  a  suspicious  nature  which  make  the 
accusation  that  all  women  are  sinful,  unstable,  frivolous, 
psychologically  weak-minded,  abandoned  unrestrainedly  to  their 
sexuality. 

Our  teachers,  philosophers  and  poets,  who  form  the  ideal  of 
our  time,  the  Secret  Emperor  ("  heimichen  Kaiser")  (Simmel), 
are  also  not  infrequently  under  the  sway  of  the  same  fictions. 
The  neurotic  is  therefore  likely  to  seize  upon  them  in  order  to 
gain  a  firm  guiding  line  in  the  unrest  of  life.  For  the  above 
neurotic  tendency,  Schopenhauer,  Strindberg,  Moebius,  and 
Weininger,  besides  the  religious  teachers  and  fathers  of  the 
church,  have  produced  the  most  pleasing  cleiche.  The  malleus 
malificarium  and  the  disgrace  of  the  burning  of  witches  followed 
the  learned  disputes  of  the  clerics  over  the  question  whether 
woman  has  a  soul,  whether  she  is  a  human  being.  The 
reassuring  schematic  fictions  of  neurotic  girls  are  derived  from  a 
childish  view  of  the  world,  because  art  is  still,  nearly  exclusively, 
masculine  territory  and  the  apperception  offers  a  material  less 
suited  to  it,  and  therefore  these  fictions  of  neurotic  girls  are 
brought  into  harmony  with  reality  with  greater  difficulty. 

Where  reality,  however,  is  able  to  influence  the  neurotic  fiction 
of  the  girl  it  usually  causes  traits  of  character  and  tendencies 
which  reveal  clearly  enough  the  masculine  inclination  to  conquer 
man,  or  where  there  is  the  strongest  tendency  to  gain  security — 
in  a  homosexual  way — to  conquer  woman,  but  which  make  these 
neurotics  nevertheless  seek,  as  a  lover  or  as  a  husband,  the  man 
to  whom  they  deny  value  and  who  is  only  fitted  in  a  small  degree 
for  conflict.  The  expression  of  sympathy  can  in  such  cases 
often  disguise  the  state  of  affairs,  and  love  is  then  free  if  thef 
man  is  powerless,  enfeebled,  a  cripple,  aged.  In  phantasies, 
dreams  and  hallucinations  in  which  the  man  is  castrated  or 
changed  into  a  woman,  or  corpse,  is  "below,"  and  especially 
in  the  tendency  to  see  the  man  without  weapons,  small,  abased  ; 
is  revealed  the  compulsion  of  the  masculine  guiding  fiction  and 
finds  in  necrophilia  its  highest  expression.1  Anotner  road,  as 

1  Eulenburg  emphasized  in  the  same  manner  the  relationship  between 
active  algolagnia  (v.  Schrenck-Notzing)  and  necrophilia. 


120  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

we  have  already  stated,  leads  over  the  line  of  the  desire  to 
possess  everything,  towards  neurotic  coquetry.  The  masculine 
protest  is  therein  revealed,  first  in  the  tendency  to  compensate 
a  feeling  of  inferiority,  of  deficiency  apperceived  through  the 
picture  of  the  lost  masculine  member  by  means  of  domination  of 
many  or  of  all  men.  Secondly,  by  the  refusal  of  a  feminine  role 
in  sexual  relations,  in  marriage.  In  place  of  this  despised 
role,  expedients  are  resorted  to  which  are  dictated  by  the  manly 
guiding  line,  such  as  sexual  anesthesia  and  perversions  of  all 
sorts,  among  which  the  sadistic  predominates.  Bloch  has 
emphasized  in  a  fine  manner  the  desire  for  domination  by  the 

coquette  when  he  says:  ("  Beitrage  zur  Atiologie  der 
Psychopathia  sex,"  1903)  "  Coquetry,  which  may  be  defined  as 
the  effort  of  women  to  attach  men  to  them,  makes  use,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  of  purely  sexual  means  to  attain  its  object, 
and  is,  in  this  respect,  an  efflux  of  the  true  gynecokratic 
instinct."  We  can  only  add  that  these  "gynecokratic 
instincts  "  are  constructed  according  to  the  picture  of  the  resem- 
blance to  men  and  thus  prove  themselves  to  be  dependent  on  a 
masculine  ideal,  although  in  the  attainment  thereof  feminine 
means  are  resorted  to  as  expedients  because  they  are  the  only 
ones  at  hand.  The  attention  and  interest  of  these  neurotics 
(among  whom  the  masculine  coquettes  are  remarkable,  because 
they  seek  to  carry  through  their  triumph  valued  as  masculine  by 
feminine  means)  is  directed  towards  making  an  impression  and 
to  force  others  into  their  service.  A  result  of  this  trait  of 
character  is  that  the  neurotic  strengthening  of  these  secondary 
guiding  lines  leads  to  overestimation  of  self  and  there- 
fore also  to  exaggeration  of  the  desire  for  mastery,  of 
pride,  and  of  the  tendency  to  detract  from  the  worth  of  others. 
Hence  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  the  object  of  the  desire,  as 
a  rule,  appears  to  be  overvalued  through  the  narcissism  (Naecke) 
of  the  patient.  This  overestimation  is  rather  an  a  priori 
condition  in  the  construction  of  the  relation  and  in  it  is  reflected 
the  exaggerated  ego  of  the  female  patient.2 

In  the  psychotherapeutic  treatment  these  cases  produce 
especially  the  appearance  of  "  being  in  love  with  the  physician." 
It  may,  however,  be  easily  seen  that  this  "transfer  of  love" 
corresponds  to  one  of  the  numerous  preparations  for  conflict 
used  for  overcoming  the  obstacle,  and  thus  to  get  the  better  of 
the  superiority  of  the  man,  of  the  masculine  physician;  and  it 
may  be  easily  seen  that  the  feeling  of  deficiency  which  calls  forth 
this  peculiar  obscure  form  of  the  masculine  protest  springs  from 
their  femininity  which  they  feel  as  inferiority.  In  no  case, 
however,  no  matter  how  far  the  neurotic  may  carry  coquetry, 

a  The  belief  in  personal  magic  is  so  strong  that  every  resistance  leads  to 
new  endeavours- 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  121 

does  it  reach  far  enough  to  include  subjection  to  the  man. 
Sooner  or  later  the  man  is  threatened  with  defeat  which  carries 
with  it  loss  of  dignity,  and  in  fact,  always  when  the  neurotic 
patient  feels  the  situation  to  be  too  feminine.  This  moment 
may  arrive  at  different  stages,  but  it  is  as  a  rule,  contact,  a  kiss, 
expectation  of  sexual  relations,  fear  of  pregnancy  or  of  childbirth 
which  releases  the  heightened  tendency  to  gain  reassurance  and 
causes  the  outbreak  of  that  which  is  ordinarily  termed  a  neurosis 
or  psychosis.  Then  the  stronger  abstraction  of  reality  comes 
into  its  right,  the  fictions  assert  themselves  with '  greater 
distinctness,  the  tendency  to  detract  from  the  value  of  the  man 
leads  to  actions  and  deeds  which  apparently  have  lost  all  mean- 
ing, and  the  inimical  dispositions  of  the  aggressiveness,  and  with 
these  the  neurotic  traits  of  character  come  to  light. 

Every  neurotic  possesses  to  some  degree  this  coquetry  which 
has  its  origin  in  narcissism.  They  originate  indeed  from  his 
hypostasized  idea  of  personal  value,  are  founded  like  this  upon 
an  original  feeling  of  inferiority.  The  fact  that  neurotics, 
especially  the  species  just  described,  find  it  so  hard  to  separate 
themselves  from  persons  or  things  is  in  harmony  with  this. 
The  parting  from  a  person,  seemingly  not  in  close  relations  with 
the  neurotic,  to  say  nothing  of  a  seemingly  loved  person,  is 
capable  of  producing  the  most  severe  neurotic  symptoms, 
neuralgic  attacks,  depression,  loss  of  sleep,  attacks  of  weeping, 
etc.  On  the  other  hand,  threats  of  desertion  or  separation  are 
not  rare,  and  are  used  to  bring  forth  proof  of  the  influence  over 
the  person  threatened.  That  the  masculine  protest  is  dominant 
in  this  coquetry  is  proved  from  various  phenomena.  The  strong 
disinclination  for  a  distinctly  feminine  role  has  already  been 
emphasized  ;  it  is  capable  in  these  cases  of  calling  forth  a 
remarkable  picture,  the  appearance  of  a  double  life — a  splitting 
of  consciousness,  an  ambivalence  (Bleuler).  Analysis  constantly 
furnishes  greater  proof  for  the  striving  toward  masculinity. 
Dreams,  phantasies,  hallucinations,  onset  of  psychosis  show  in 
a  most  distinct  manner  the  striving  to  become  a  man,  or  one  of 
the  equivalents,  as  fear  of  a  feminine  lot.  The  strong  tendency 
toward  detraction  of  men  originates  from  the  effort  to  attain  an 
equal  value  with  the  male  and  gives  rise  in  sexual  events  to  the 
masculine  role,  which  is  revealed  in  frigidity,  in  desire  to  be 
first  and  in  those  perversions  which  force  the  man  to  take  a 
slavish  and  debasing  position. 

Often  the  onset  of  the  neurosis  may  be  assumed  to  have  set  in 
when  such  symptoms  as  fear  of  a  decision,  of  a  test,  of  marriage, 
public  appearance,  of  place  (Platzangst),  require  medical  treat- 
ment. These  anxieties  arise  at  the  emerging  of  a  contradiction 
in  the  masculine  protest,  if  in  pursuing  the  same  a  set-back,  a 
feminine  lot,  a  defeat  is  threatened  and  hence  the  forced 
admission  of  femininity. 

K 


122  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

This  was  the  case  with  one  of  my  patients  who,  several  years 
ago,  just  before  her  first  public  appearance,  became  ill  with 
piano-player's  cramp.  This  neurosis  furnished  a  good  excuse 
for  escaping  from  a  dreaded  failure.  The  closer  examination 
into  the  conditions  of  this  illness  showed  a  neurotic  illusion  in 
which  the  patient  at  the  sight  of  notes  was  reminded  of  male 
genital  organs.  The  first  explanation  to  suggest  itself  was  that 
of  an  exaggerated  or  repressed  sexuality  whose  reflection  in  the 
piano-player's  cramp  was  to  be  sought  in  the  repression  of  the 
inclination  to  masturbation.  The  result  furnished  an  entirely 
different  explanation.  The  triumph  before  the  public  was 
supposed  to  signify  an  equality  with  the  man,  masculinity.  This 
fiction  was  in  contradiction  with  reality,  with  her  femininity,  so 
that  a  public  appearance  equalled  a  final  balancing  of  the  facts 
(many  talented  girls  and  women  are  wrecked  for  the  same 
reason).  The  sense  of  reality  of  the  patient  placed  instead  of 
the  facts,  would  not  admit  this  condition  of  things,  and  when; 
arranged  by  a  symbolic  interpretation  of  the  heads  of  the  notes, 
works  a  fictitious  abstraction  which  recalled  the  femininity  and 
became  a  regressive  signal.  The  contradiction  in  the  masculine 
protest  of  this  patient  is  manifested,  as  is  nearly  always  the  case 
in  the  neurosis,  in  the  unrealizability  of  the  fiction  just  when, 
before  the  decision,  the  possibility  ol  a  failure  estimated  as 
"feminine"  in  character  emerged — a  common  phenomenon 
which  needs  no  explanation.  Now  the  traits  of  anxiety,  of  shy- 
ness, of  stage-fright  are  strengthened,  and  they  either  themselves 
furnish  excuses  or  preparations  and  predispositions  (in  our  case 
pains  and  inability  to  move  the  hands)  and  divert  the  attention 
from  the  menace  to  the  masculine  protest.  But  in  this  case  also 
the  force  of  the  masculine  protest  is  astonishing,  it  forms  a 
preparedness  for  conflict  in  the  direction  of  the  masculine  pro- 
test even  out  of  the  illness  in  which  the  patient  takes  refuge. 
This  girl  had  entered  upon  the  career  of  a  virtuoso  against  her 
will,  forced  thereto  by  her  unyielding  mother.  The  wrecking  of 
her  mother's  ambitious  plans  meant  for  the  daughter  a  victory 
which  recompensed  her  in  part.  That  which  her  obstinacy,  her 
masculine  tendency  was  not  able  to  accomplish,  was  successful 
through  her  illness  as  soon  as  note-stems  called  up  to  her  the 
menacing  souvenir  "you  are  a  woman,  take  care,  do  not  allow 
yourself  to  be  forced  to  a  feminine  obedient  role  by  your  mother 
— conquer  her."  A  further  construction,  an  excuse  which 
yielded  a  foundation  for  the  attitude  toward  her  mother,  lay  in 
the  heightened  feeling  that  her  younger  sister  was  given 
preference.  This  train  of  thought,  as  well  as  her  efforts  to  gain 
exclusive  control  over  every  one,  her  mother,  all  the  members 
of  the  family,  all  human  beings  in  the  environment,  even  of  a 
dog,  was  reflected  in  the  heightened  characteristics  of  her 
coquetry  and  found  expression,  for  example,  in  one  of  her  latest 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  123 

dreams  concerning  the  physician.  The  dream  was  as  follows  : 
"  /  sit  opposite  you  and  ask  if  you  like  all  the  patients  as  well 
as  you  like  me  ?  You  answered,  '  Yes,  all,  and  my  four  children, 
too.'  All  at  once  you  changed  into  a  woman  and  went  to  sleep. 
A  woman  was  looking  at  the  black  notes." 

The  amative  disposition  of  this  patient  could  endure  no  rival. 
She  made  use  of  the  certainty  of  her  conquest  in  order  to 
support  her  feeling  of  security.  The  physician  who  gave  her  to 
understand  that  he  treated  all  patients  with  the  same  interest, 
and  who  loved  his  children  besides,  becomes  forthwith  the  point 
of  attack  of  her  striving  for  domination,  as  was  formerly,  the 
mother,  the  man  whom  she  married,  as  were  all  persons  in  her 
environment,  domestic  servants,  trades-people,  teachers,  etc. 
Her  self-centered  nature  did  not  need  to  "transfer,"  as  she 
came  to  the  treatment  with  rigid  predispositions  and  put  them 
in  play  from  the  first  moment  of  her  meeting  with  the  physician. 
Only  the  new  situation  was  surrounded  with  difficulties  and 
obstacles  which  prevented  the  will  to  domination  through  love 
from  fully  developing.  Naturally  my  wife  was  left  out  of  the 
dream.  Just  this  omission  is  the  corner  stone  of  the  situation  ; 
my  wife  is  definitely  set  aside.  Up  to  this  point  the  feminine 
means  extend  and  characterize  the  feminine  line  to  which  the 
patient  holds.  Now  the  masculine  protest  emerges  more 
distinctly.  I  become  unmanned,  the  reassuring  illusion  of  the 
patient,  namely,  the  notes  as  a  protecting  symbol  of  the  male 
genitals,  asserts  its  right.  She,  herself,  '  takes  care,"  secures 
herself  in  order  not  to  sink  in  her  feeling  of  masculine  ego- 
consciousness,  to  suffer  no  defeat. 

That  1  go  to  sleep  in  the  dream,  assigns  to  me  a  place  similar 
to  that  which  her  husband  occupies.  The  patient  feels  it  as  a 
great  neglect  that  her  husband,  an  overworked  manufacturer, 
often  goes  to  sleep  before  she  does.  The  unmanning  of  the 
husband  is  the  answer  thereto,  as  well  as  a  prolonged  insomnia 
whose  constructive  significance  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  permits 
the  patient  to  operate  against  her  husband.  Now  she  could 
refuse  him  his  right  as  a  husband  and  turned  him,  at  first  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  later  permanently,  out  of  her  bedroom  ; 
because  he  "snored  and  disturbed  her  so  much."  Our  patient 
would  have  easily  found  another  argument  if  this  one 
had  not  presented  itself,  and  it  would  be  erroneous  to 
exclude  the  neurotic  construction  as  a  cause  because  in 
this  case  the  neurotic  happened  to  be  right.  In  order 
to  prove  that  she  is  right  the  patient  will  often  argue 
aptly ;  the  neurotic  stigma  in  fact  consists  in  the  ten- 
dency to  render  the  superiority  visible  by  all  possible  means. 
Litigious  paranoia  for  example  reveals  this  mechanism  to  us 
with  greater  clearness.  Besides,  the  neurosis  of  our  patient 
continues  in  its  construction  of  assurances.  To  her  insomnia 


124  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

is  added,  in  order  to  place  this  on  a  firmer  basis,  a  sensitiveness 
of  hearing,  whose  mechanism  consists  In  an  overcharging  of  the 
attention  for  the  purpose  of  serving  the  neurotic  tendency,  so 
that  we  were  also  able  to  say,  by  this  overcharging,  the  patient 
is  awakened  by  the  slightest  noise  as  soon  as  she  falls  asleep. 
Thus  she  can,  still  awake  when  morning  comes,  sleep  far  into 
the  day  and  thus  avoid  the  feminine  tasks  of  the  household,  in 
the  same  manner  as  she  had  escaped  the  mother's  domination  by 
stage  fright  and  cramps  in  the  fingers.  An  auditory 
hallucination,  a  sawing  noise,  constitutes  a  final  security  which 
may  be  pursued  analytically  in  two  directions.  The  one  inter- 
pretation is  furnished  by  a  warning  souvenir,  which  at  the  same 
time  is  an  incentive  to  her  coquetry — once,  when  eight  years  old, 
she  overheard  an  intimate  scene  at  her  married  sister's,  she  felt 
shut  out,  neglected — she  gave  a  similar  value  to  her  husband's 
"indifference"  when  he  fell  asleep  before  she  did,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  take  a  sharply  aggressive  attitude  toward  him.  A 
second  interpretation  led  in  another  direction.  The  noise 
recalled  the  sawing  off  of  a  stem  and  symbolized,  acoustically,* 
the  unmanning,  the  detraction  from  the  worth  of  the  man.  As 
is  also  so  frequently  the  case  this  symptom  proved  to  be  (just  as 
I  have  maintained  of  the  dream,  of  symptoms,  and  of  the 
neurosis)  a  representative  instance  of  the  ascension  from  the 
feminine  to  the  masculine  line,  as  a  masculine  protest  against  a 
situation  usually  previously  felt  as  feminine,  against  an 
anticipated  feeling  of  defeat  and  as  a  symbol  of  the  life  scheme 
of  this  neurotic  patient. 

This,  and  similar  cases,  explained  to  me  in  what  manner 
suggestibility  became  an  auxiliary  of  the  tendency  to  attain 
security,  either  because  therefrom  the  patient  gained  in  small 
things  the  conviction  of  her  weakness  in  order  to  provide  herself 
with  proper  protection  at  critical  times,  or  because  the  patient 
yields  with  surprisingpliability  in  order  to  gain  ascendancy  over 
the  other  person.*  The  more  direct  efforts  of  her  tendency  to 
domination  stand  so  sharply  in  contrast  with  this  yielding  that 
when  only  superficially  observed  the  phenomenon  resembles  a 
splitting  of  consciousness.  In  the  same  manner,  vanity,  pride, 
and  self-admiration  will  guide  the  patient  in  many  cases  to  the 
same  goal,  while  she  at  times,  conducts  herself  with  modesty, 
simplicity,  and  carelessness,  using  these  qualities  as  expedients. 
Usually  externals  and  attitudes  are  carefully  studied.  Very 
often  fetichism  is  manifested,  whose  essential  and  constructive 

3  One  is  reminded  here  of  the  somatic-jargon  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken-  Thus  the  words,  "  schrill  "  and  "  grell,"  bring  to  expression  sen- 
serially  in  their  transformed  meaning,  analogies  which  are  felt  at  one  time 
through  the  eye,  at  another,  through  the  ear- 

*  The  latter  mechanism  seems  to  be  at  the  root  of  passive  homosexuality 
while  both  attitudes  may  be  taken  as  the  structure  of  masochism,  still  better, 
pseudomasochism. 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  125 

foundation  represents  efforts  to  prove  equality  with  men  in 
circuitous  ways,  hence  to  compensate  for  a  feeling  of  deficiency. 
Literature  furnishes  us  with  representations  of  all  these  efforts  in 
a  most  refined  form  in  the  memoirs  of  Baschkirzewa  and  Helen 
Rakowiza.  Analyses  of  a  series  of  cases  where  the  memories  of 
these  remarkable  impressions  from  childhood  had  been  preserved 
more  vividly  than  usual  furnished  me  with  interesting 
verifications  at  a  time  when  I  was  already  far  advanced  in  my 
exposition  of  the  doubts  about  the  future  sexual  role  on  the  part 
of  the  neurotic  child  and  the  masculine  protest  which  n'ecessarily 
springs  therefrom.  Some  remembered  very  distinctly  having 
been  in  doubt  up  to  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  year  whether  they 
were  male  or  female.  It  may  not  be  a  matter  of  chance  that 
these  were  male  patients.  At  times  the  doubt  emerged  whether 
they  were  not  hermaphrodites,  so  that  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  in  other  cases  where  the  thought  of  hermaphrodites  was 
distinctly  and  importunately  present  in  the  memory  of  the  patient 
and  was  spontaneously  brought  forward,  it  is  the  last  impression 
of  a  doubt  about  the  patient's  own  sex.  And  in  literature,  too, 
I  have  frequently  run  across  this  significant  trace  in  the  histories 
of  neurotics  and  psychotics  without  the  significance  of  this  doubt 
concerning  the  sexual  role  being  clear  to  the  writers.  Meschede 
described  an  interesting  case  of  question-compulsion  (Fragez- 
wang),  and  Freud  one  of  dementia  after  Schreber's  biography. 
I  disregard  whether  or  not  this  interest  of  the  patient 
was  explained  by  illustrations,  or  placards,  in  the  lexicon,  by 
readings,  by  spectacles,  by  occurrences,  as  well  as  the  scientific 
interpretation  which  seemed  to  concentrate  its  attention  to  the 
male  periods,  the  male  climacteric,  to  the  examination  of  the 
male  or  female  share  in  the  individual,  etc.  For  me,  the 
permanent  impression  which  asserted  itself  in  an  obvious 
emphasis  of  the  relation  and  the  reciprocal  relation  of  the 
antithesis  male-female,  was  the  important  factor. 

In  recent  years  since  I  have  hit  upon  these  fundamental 
phenomena  of  the  neurosis,  I  have  often  asked  myself  if  I,  too, 
in  the  course  of  my  development  from  childhood  was  not 
dominated  by  a  similar  doubt  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
question  of  hermaphroditism  only  attracted  me  at  a  very  late 
period  and  from  the  standpoint  of  a  critic,  and  hence  in  a 
secondary  manner.  Also  my  rejection  of  the  biological 
hermaphroditism  as  a  cause  of  the  neurosis  (Flies)  I  would  use 
as  an  argument  against  such  doubts  in  my  early  youth,  if  I  were 
not  familiar  with  the  fact  that  often  the  negation  is  the  assertion 
of  an  old  interest  which  has  become  unconscious.  But  my  view 
of  life  shows  me  that  I  must  have  become  master  of  old  childish 
contrary  tendencies,  without  the  exaggerated  masculine  protest 
having  been  developed.  Because  I  have  in  life,  as  well  as  iri 
science,  after  a  first  abstract  valuation  of  the  masculine  principle 


126  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

over  the  feminine,  rejected  the  flood  of  arguments  to  prove  the 
original  deficiencies  of  women,  with  pertinent  calmness. 

I  believe,  however,  concerning  the  former  critics  of  the 
"masculine  protest,"  from  the  manner  in  which  they  have 
undertaken  the  contest,  and  from  their  stubborn  failure  to  under- 
stand it,  that  the  exaggerated  savageness  of  their  attack  in  a 
strictly  scientific  question  is  referable  nearly  as  much  as  is  their 
fear  of  the  concept  "  hermaphroditism  "  to  a  childhood 
impression  which  alarmingly  presented  to  them  an  accentuated 
effeminacy  or  hermaphroditism,  with  which,  however,  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  deter  anyone  from  a  scientific  criticism. 

Besides,  there  is  no  better  way  of  judging  the  reaction  of  the 
neurotic  psyche  than  from  the  answers  to  questions  showing 
estimation  of  the  opposite  sex.  It  will  become  apparent  that 
every  stronger  denial  of  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  every 
detraction  or  overvaluation  of  the  opposite  sex  is  invariably 
connected  with  a  neurotic  disposition  and  neurotic  traits.  They 
are  all  dependent  on  the  neurotic  tendency  to  obtain  security, 
and  all  manifest  distinct  traces  of  the  masculine  protest  and  are 
evidence  of  the  essential,  more  abstract  adherence  to  a  guiding 
fiction.  They>  are  one  and  all,  expedients  of  human  thought  to 
enhance  the  feeling  of  personal  worth. 

It  follows  from  the  exposition  of  my  psychology  of  the 
neuroses  that  children  with  male  as  well  as  those  with  female 
tendencies,  look  forward  with  fear  to  the  lot  of  a  woman,  to  be 
subject  to  a  man,  to  be  deprived  of  virginity,  injured,  to  be 
obliged  to  bear  children,  to  play  a  subordinate  role  in  life,  to 
obey,  to  be  backward  in  knowledge,  in  skill,  in  strength,  wisdom, 
to  be  weak,  to  have  periods,  to  become  a  sacrifice  to  husband 
and  children,  to  become  at  last  an  old  and  neglected  woman. 
How  this  fear  of  the  future  gives  rise  to  egoistic  traits  of 
character  has  been  described  above.  I  have  described  a  typical 
case  of  a  little  girl  in  the  "  Disposition  zur  Neurose  "  (I.e.). 

I  am  able  to  show  in  the  case  of  a  patient  suffering  from  a 
gastric  neurosis  a  line  of  conduct  which  is  regularly  observed  in 
the  psychic  development  of  neurotic  patients.  This  is  the 
anticipation  in  thought  and  emotion  of  all  disadvantages  which 
could  be  expected  to  occur.  This  tendency  is  observed  in  early 
childhood  when,  where  there  is  organic  inferiority  and  the  evils 
arising  therefrom,  it  is  of  excessive  growth.  Very  often  this 
feelings  occurs  at  the  time  immediately  preceding  the  falling 
asleep,  and  it  is  then  not  remarkable  that  a  dream  fiction  spurs 
further  this  effort  of  anticipation  in  a  form  to  cause  fear.  Only 
the  dream,  in  resemblance  to  the  hallucination,  brings  with  it  a 
condition  of  feeling,  of  emotion,  which  has  the  significance  as 
anticipation  of  emotion,  parallel  to  anticipation  in  thought,  in  a 
waking  condition.  The  hallucinatory  excitability  is,  as  I  have 
already  emphasized  in  the  "  Studie  fiber  Mindwertigkeit  von 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  127 

Organ,"  an  extended  capacity  of  the  brain  which  is  overstrained 
in  compensatory  directions,  serves  the  neurotic  tendency  to  gain 
security  and  owes  its  representative  faculty  in  consciousness  to 
the  memory  which  follows  a  certain  tendency  to  the  neurotic, 
cautious  apperception.  The  childish  undeveloped  psyche  shows 
at  most,  traces  of  tendencies  toward  hallucinatory  feelings  which 
are  to  be  understood  as  the  fictitious  preparations  for  a  goal,  as 
anticipation  in  time  of  uncertainty. 

Thus  laughing  in  sleep,  or  pleasant  sensations  in  the 
anticipatory  quest  of  organic  satisfaction,  or  of  security.  The 
hallucinatory  excitement  in  the  neuroses  and  psychoses  always, 
and  without  exception,  serves  the  guiding  fiction  of  the  ideal  of 
personality.  The  significance  of  the  hallucinations  of  pain  and 
anxiety  for  the  fiction  of  nervous  diseases  should  also  be  taken 
into  account.  A  further  examination  of  the  mechanism  of  the 
hallucination  teaches  us  unequivocally  that  it  is  composed  ot 
tendencies  to  abstraction  and  to  anticipation,  and  that  it  gains 
significance  as  a  strengthened  fiction  or  as  a  warning  souvenir, 
because  it  acts  as  a  spur  to  the  assurance  of  the  feeling  of 
personal  worth.  That  they  are  connected  with  traces  of 
memory  has  no  essential  significance.  The  psyche  works  with- 
out exception  with  the  content  of  consciousness  and  with 
sensations  that  are  given  by  experience  and  originate  in  the 
corporal  substratum.  The  significance  of  the  psyche,  and 
especially  of  the  neurotic  psyche,  lies  in  the  special  choice  of 
these  memory  traces  and  in  their  connection  with  the  neurotic 
apperception  which  gives  them  their  trend.  Therefore  the 
nervously  exalted  tendency  to  gain  security  makes  use  of  a 
specially  developed  function  of  prevision,  of  hallucination,  in 
which  abstractly  and  imaginatively  a  scene  unrolls,  an 
anticipated  denouement,  a  foreseen  finale,  with  eagerness,  so 
that  the  hallucinated  individual  builds  the  bridges  to  it,  or  they 
have  an  admonitory  quality  warning  them  to  choose  another  way. 
Hallucinations  as  well  as  dreams  are,  like  other  tentatives  of  the 
psyche,  fitted  for  finding  the  way  which  leads  to  the  maximation 
or  preservation  of  the  ego-consciousness.  In  it  are  reflected  the 
faiths,  the  hopes  or  the  fears  of  the  patient. 

The  above  patient  was  on  the  eve  of  marriage  when  her 
gastric  neurosis  began.  She  suffered  from  pains  in  the  region  of 
the  stomach,  belching,  vomiting,  loss  of  appetite  and  obstipation. 
One  evening,  shortly  before  going  to  sleep  she  heard  the  word 
"  Eskadambra "  distinctly.  The  formation  of  apparently 
meaningless  words  are  often  among  the  performances  of 
neurotics.  Usually  they  prove  to  be  put  together  according  to 
a  plan,  just  as  children  invent  languages  by  means  of  which  they 
attain  a  feeling  of  superiority.  Pfister  was  able  to  make  inter- 
pretations of  the  word  pictures  which  originated  from  fascination 
in  the  cases  of  those  having  the  "gift  of  tongues." 


128  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  given  a  solution  of  an 
hallucinatory  "  sawing"  in  the  ears,  in  two  other  cases  I  found 
the  roaring  serving  as  an  admonitory  memory  of  the  roaring  of 
the  sea  and  its  dangers  as  a  sense-picture  of  life,  just  as  Homer 
compares  the  ayopa  to  the  roaring  sea.6 

In  paranoia  and  dementia  praecox  the  emotions  leading  to  the 
masculine  protest  disguise  themselves  in  the  form  of  hallucina- 
tions and  assure  the  psychotic  scheme  through  their  acoustic  or 
visual  complement.  Likewise  concerning  the  above  mentioned 
rounding  off  of  a  psychic  move  into  a  hallucination  of  hearing, 
we  may  assume  that  a  strong  inner  necessity  has  led  to  a  greater 
tension  of  the  tendency  to  gain  security,  for  which  the  word 
"  eskadambra,"  though  without  value  or  significance  for  the 
patient,  can  represent  a  signal  or  sign.6  One  is  justified  in 
thinking,  however,  that  a  thorough  understanding  of  this  word 
would  show  a  meaning  which  would  reveal  to  us  the  mental 
condition  of  this  girl.  As  a  rule  it  is  easy  to  obtain  an  under- 
standing of  hallucinations  of  this  sort,  at  least  not  more  difficult 
than  for  short  fragments  of  dreams.  Asked  concerning  the 
impression  of  the  new-word  formation,  the  patient  answered, 
she  recalled  "  alhambra  "  by  this  word.  For  this  she  had 
evidently  always  had  a  great  interest  ;  once  it  stood  proudly,  but 
it  was  now  fallen  into  decay,  a  ruin.  The  beginning  of  the  word 
"  Esk "  was  to  be  found  in  the  word  "Eskimo,"  in 
"  E(tru)skan "  too,  these  letters  are  found.  The  race  of 
'  Baskes  ' '  occurred  also  to  her ;  in  this  word  the  greater  part 
of  "Esk"  appears.  The  patient  thus  indicates  the  way  she 
has  followed  in  the  construction  of  the  new  word,  she  has  joined 
a  fragment  of  the  names  of  ancient  tribes  and  the  name  of  a 
ruined  city.  Finally  the  word  "alhambra"  had  for  her  also 
only  the  significance  of  a  fragment,  and  hence  we  are  justified 
in  assuming  the  thought  of  being  broken,  made  small,  made 
short,  would  emerge  in  the  interpretation  of  the  hallucination. 
The  letters  "  skad  "  belong,  as  the  patient  easily  discovered, 
to  the  word  "kaskade."  She  said  she  was  certain  of  this 
because  she  had  used  the  expression  "  ganze  kaskaden "  in 
connection  with  the  period,  the  menstrual  period  just  passed. 

When  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that  this  patient  was  about 
to  be  married,  the  connection  of  this  construction  of  new  words 
with  the  psychic  condition  can  be  understood  without  anything 
further.  That  she  is  disinclined  to  marry  one  can  see  from  her 

*  On  another  occasion  I  found  roaring  in  the  ears  to  he  a  reminder  of  the 
tones  of  telegraph  "wires-     These  tones  reminded  him  of  his  isolation  in  child- 
hood where  alone  he  often  embraced  the  world  as  does  the  telegraph,  with  liis 
hopes  for  the  future- 

*  As  one  has  to  assume  also  concerning  the   dream  which   represents  the 
image  of  a  psychic  movement  in  the  state  of  consciousness- 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  129 

neurosis,  which  formed  a  ready  obstacle.7  In  the  hallucination 
there  is  a  disconnected  sketch  of  the  following  train  of  thought  : 
the  glory  of  my  virginity  will  be  destroyed — I  shall  bear  a  new 
race — I  shall  be  forced  to  sacrifice  whole  cascades  of  blood.  When 
I  had  brought  the  interpretation  up  to  this  point,  the  patient 
helped  me  further  by  relating  that  when  she  was  eight  years  old 
she  had  heard  that  a  woman  of  her  acquaintance  had  died  from 
loss  of  blood  at  the  birth  of  a  child.  Since  then  she  had  always 
been  afraid  of  childbirth.  What  now  is  the  meaning^  of  this 
hallucination  ?  Can  it  be  defined,  even  remotely,  by  the  word 
"wish-fulfillment"?  The  meaning  of  this  new  formation  of 
words  is  the  anticipatory  interpretation  in  the  direction  of  a 
danger  to  be  feared,  of  being  humiliated,  or  the  fear  of  becoming 
a  ruin,  as  she  had  often  called  her  mother,  of  dying  like  the 
woman  she  remembered  in  her  childhood.  This  feeling  against 
female  functions  (and  the  patient  indeed  strove  also  consciously 
against  marriage)  is  of  older  date,  originated  in  early  childhood, 
and  was  at  that  time  embodied  in  the  wish  to  be  ahead,  healthy, 
strong  like  her  father.  It  became  then  a  fictitious  guiding  line 
and  was  filled  with  a  logical  content,  which  was  grouped  about 
a  masculine  ideal  of  personality,  and  was  filled  also  with  a  fear 
in  the  same  direction  against  a  feminine  role.  Now  I  was  able 
also  to  make  clear  to  the  patient  the  meaning  of  her  stomach 
neurosis.  It  was  a  hallucinatory  excitement  which  reflected  the 
hardships  of  pregnancy,  warning  the  patient  to  avoid  the  same. 
In  the  waking  condition,  in  the  dream  and  in  hallucinations  and  in 
the  neurosis  there  was  a  harmony  of  the  tendency  towards 
security — do  not  be  a  woman,  do  not  submit,  be  a  man  ! 

This  girl  manifested  in  her  demeanor  rough,  resolute  traits, 
and  could  get  along  with  no  one.  Her  ambition  flamed  blazingly 
and  made  her  intolerant.  She  required  unconditional  submission 
from  her  fiance  whom  she  treated  very  badly  and  with  whom  she 
often  dissolved  all  relations.  Once,  however,  when  he  turned 
his  attention  to  another  girl,  she  offered  everything  in  order  to 
hold  him.  One  of  the  day  dreams  of  her  childhood  consisted  in 
the  phantasy  that  the  whole  human  race  was  going  to  destruction 
and  that  she  alone  would  remain,  an  analogy  with  the  myth  of 
the  flood  in  which  the  ego-centric,  inimical  nature  of  the  patient 
is  clearly  manifested. 

In  the  cases  of  many  patients  who  show  signs  of  the  tendency 
to  "  have  everything  "  as  in  the  case  of  the  girl  just  described, 
traits  of  character  of  an  opposite  nature  are  found.  They  are 
often  of  such  importunate  honorableness,  modesty  and  contented- 

7  As  has  already  been  mentioned,  the  anticipation  of  marriage  furnishes  one 
•of  the  most  potent  moments  for  the  accentuation  of  a  neurosis  or  for  the 
•development  of  a  psychosis-  The  contrary  expressions  of  these  patients,  such, 
for  instance,  as  "  I  would  like  to  be  married,"  always  prove  themselves  to  be 
platonic- 


130  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

ness  that  the  peculiar  accentuation  of  these  qualities  awakens  the 
suspicion  of  a  special  arrangement.  Their  conscience  always 
makes  itself  heard  and  their  feeling  of  being  at  fault  is  always 
ready  to  react  on  the  slightest  occasion." 

The  solution  of  this  enigma  which  has  puzzled  humanity  for  a 
long  time,  is  furnished  by  an  understanding  of  the  craving  for 
security  which  breaks  through  the  direct  aggressive  guiding 
line,  and  which  puts  an  end  to  greed  and  immoderation  as  soon 
as  the  egoistic  ideal  is  threatened  by  them.  Conscience  then  con- 
stitutes, so  to  speak,  an  intermediate  guiding  fiction,  as  does  also 
its  anticipatory  exaltation,  the  abstract  self-accusation  of  guilt. 
These  are  instances  in  which  all  actions  planned  and  anticipatory 
preparations  are  changed  around  in  such  a  way  that  they  are 
not  injurious,  that  they  permit  the  feeling  of  personal  worth  to 
be  preserved.  We  perceive  on  this  point  the  opposition  in  the 
original  feeling  of  inferiority  as  a  compensation  for  the  feeling 
of  uncertainty  which  has  come  to  moral  expression.  Now  the 
neurotic  can  exclude  a  number  of  possibilities  which  could 
degrade  him.  In  other  relations,  also',  the  effect  of  the  craving- 
for  security  is  recognizable,  in  morals,  in  religion,  in  super- 
stition, in  stirrings  of  conscience  and  in  the  feeling  of  guilt. 
They  all  form  themselves  into  rigid  formulae  and  principles  such 
as  the  uncertain  neurotic  loves.  And  he  can  prepare  himselt 
by  practice  in  small  things,  test  his  moral  strength  on  mere 
nothings  and  especially — principiis  obsta  I — secures  himself  from 
a  moral  fall  which  he  exaggerates  in  anticipation  by  feeling  the 
moral  defeat  beforehand.  This  last  hallucinatory  expedient 
resembles  the  security  through  neurotic  anxiety,  and  indeed 
conscientiousness,  self-accusation,  and  anxiety  often  complement 
each  other,  or  alternate  with  each  other,  in  the  neurosis.  The 
knowledge  of  this  fact  is  of  great  importance  to  the  psycho- 
therapeutist  for  the  understanding  of  the  connection  between 
masturbation  and  neurosis  and  from  which  may  be  comprehended 
the  significance  as  a  security  of  the  feeling  of  self-accusation 
constructed  from  the  fact  of  onanism.  If  this  feeling  of  guilt 
is  brought  into  junction  with  the  masturbation  for  the  purpose  of 
working  as  a  brake  against  the  force  of  sexuality,  both 
constitute,  later,  a  base  of  operation  from  which  the  patient 
augments  his  neurotic  disposition  in  order  to  guard  against  a 
reduction  of  his  ego-consciousness.  As  a  rule,  both — with  the 
assistance  of  anticipated  results,  as  impotence,  tabes,  paralysis, 
loss  of  memory — are  used  as  an  excuse  in  order  to  avoid  making 
decisions,  and  always  also  for  deepening  the  fear  of  the  sexual 
partner.  I  have  often  described  connections  of  this  sort  in  this 
and  in  previous  works.  In  the  neurosis,  honorableness  and  con- 
scientiousness border  on  pedantry,  therefore  we  shall  not  be 

*  Adler,  "  Ueber  nenrotische  Disposition,"  1.  c.,  and  Fortmfiller,  1.  c. 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  13  r 

surprised  to  find  how  often  these  qualities  draw  their  real  value 
from  the  fact  that  thereby  the  neurotic  is  placed  in  a  position  to 
humiliate  others,  to  come  into  conflict  with  them,  to  raise  him- 
self above  others  and  press  them  into  his  service.  It  is  just  the 
neurotic  whose  tendency  to  dominate  contains  the  scheme  "  to* 
possess  everything"  and  who  not  rarely  preserves  memories  of 
sins,  who  will  usually  take  care  not  to  betray  a  secret  which 
would  certainly  result  in  his  humiliation.  He  will  rather  seek 
to  preserve  appearances  even  with  great  pains  and  anxiety ;: 
will  blush  anxiously  when  he  lifts  his  own  pocketbook  from  the 
floor,  and  will  avoid  being  alone  in  a  strange  room  in  order  not 
to  fall  under  suspicion  of  theft,  if  something  should  be  missed. 
In  like  manner  I  found  an  obstinate  wish  to  pay  in  advance,  to 
owe  nothing,  in  patients  to  whom  every  expenditure  seemed  a 
reduction  of  their  ego-consciousness.  They  preferred  under- 
going an  evil  and  making  an  end  of  it  to  enduring  one  without 
end,  but  had  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  of  superiority  in  doing 
this,  over  the  one  who  received  the  money. 

In  the  same  manner  the  fanatic  adherence  to  truth  in  many 
neurotics  proves  itself  to  be,  as  a  rule,  a  reaction  of  the  weaker 
against  the  superior  power  (in  this  connection  the  original 
picture  of  the  same  may  called,  the  "  enfant  terrible"). 

I  learned  from  the  previous  history  of  a  catatonic  that  he  was 
oppressed  and  humiliated  by  his  wife.  One  night  he  broke  out 
in  sobs  and  told  her  that  he  had  deceived  her  by  an  affair  with 
a  servant  girl.  His  masculine  protest  made  use  of  this  expedient, 
adultery,  in  order  to  connect  with  it  an  open  confession.  Again, 
in  the  form  of  the  neurotic  conjunction  with  which  we  are  already 
acquainted,  it  became  apparent  that  the  wife  not  only  had  the 
stronger  will,  but  had,  also,  the  command  of  the  purse.  The 
patient,  himself  a  weak  man,  was  obliged  to  live  upon  her 
money,  which  the  wife  and  her  family  made  the  source  of 
much  unpleasantness,  though  they  had  known  all  about  it  before- 
hand. In  order  to  protect  himself  from  the  superiority  of  his 
wife  and  not  to  submit  entirely  to  her  influence,  he,  already 
engaged  in  conflict  over  the  male  domination,  arrived  at 
an  arrangement  of  a  psychic  impotence.  The  wife,  on  the  other 
hand,  overcame  this  impotence  and  humiliated  the  husband 
openly.  His  flirtation  with  the  nurse  girl  was  the  beginning  of 
his  revenge.  This  could  only  be  effective  in  a  way  to  elevate 
him  if  he  confessed  his  adultery  in  a  manly  way ;  therefore  he 
had  recourse  to  the  love  of  truth,  which  had  already  served  him 
as  a  vehicle  for  all  sorts  of  rascality.  The  fact  that  he  confessed 
his  fault  with  tears  was  in  keeping  with  his  cowardice  before  a 
decision,  but  on  the  other  hand,  made  it  easier  for  him  to  com- 
municate the  painful  intelligence  to  his  wife.  The  further 
course  turned  out  against  the  masculine  triumph  of  the  psychic 
hermaphrodite  ;  the  wife  went  further  in  her  aggression  an$ 


132  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

•complained  to  her  relatives,  who  in  turn  reproached  him  in  the 
most  severe  manner.  Now  he  fell  into  an  apathy  with  an 
augmented  craving  for  security,  wished  to  undo  his  transgression 
as  it  had  not  assisted  him  to  the  masculine  triumph  and  found  the 
solution  in  a  fiction  of  a  purifying  miracle  which  God  had 
wrought  in  him.  He  was  again  on  the  heights,  his  pre- 
destination phantasy  broke  out,  he  stood  in  communication  with 
God,  received  orders  and  commands  from  Him,  and  built  up  a 
psychotic  system  in  which  he  wandered  on  the  earth  as  a  prophet. 
The  masturbation,  too,  which  he  practiced  openly,  he  designated 
as  a  miracle,  in  order  thus  to  escape  the  feeling  of  humiliation. 
Stereotypies  were  manifested,  among  other  >vays,  by  an 
•occasional  upright  position  of  the  body  and  by  holding  the  head 
high,  a  motion  which  I  was  able  to  interpret  as  symbolic,  as  a 
phantasy  of  the  erection  of  the  male  organ. 

'To  tell  some  one  a  bitter  truth — "  This  expression  con- 
tains the  kernel  for  the  comprehension  of  the  case  just  described. 
The  neurotic  often  makes  use  of  the  truth  in  order  to  cause  pain 
to  others.  One  never  hears  agreeable  truths  from  neurotic 
patients  without  a  reaction  immediately  becoming  visible, 
usually  in  the  form  of  an  aggravation  of  the  suffering.  To  every 
emotion  of  love,  which  is  regarded  as  feminine,  as  a  submission, 
there  follows  an  emotion  of  hate,  as  masculine  protest,  the  latter 
in  the  garments  of  truth — honor  bright  !  Also  in  this  case  of 
•dementia  praecox  we  find  a  stage  where  the  doubt  of  the  neurotic 
concerning  his  own  masculinity  is  bridged  over  by  means  of 
expedients  and  by  a  tightening  of  the  guiding  fiction  where  the 
compensatory  craving  for  security  gives  the  impulse  to  take  a 
guiding  symbol  verbally  and  to  construct  the  fiction  (as  if  the 
neurotic  were  a  teacher,  the  Emperor,  Savior).  Other  traits, 
such  as  moodiness  and  unsociability,  are  likewise  to  be 
recognized  as  neurotic  anticipatory  preparations,  as  always  fitted 
io  annihilate  the  superiority  of  others  and  to  prevent  them  from 
carrying  out  their  will. 

The  neurotic  individual  is  the  typical  kill-joy  and  peace 
destroyer.  He  is  misled  by  his  megalomaniac  ideal  in  conditions 
of  greatest  uncertainty  and  is  always  busy  trying  to  hypostasize 
and  deify  his  own  guiding  line,  and  to  cross  those  of  others.  These 
traits  are  also  capable  of  a  more  extended  application.  The 
neurotic  regards  his  inability  to  get  along  with  others,  his  dis- 
turbing attacks,  as  proofs  that  others  wish  to  injure  him,  and 
erects,  as  a  protection,  the  wall  of  his  principles  within  which 
his  spirit  of  mastery  is  able  to  develop.  Here  emerge 
tendencies  such  as  the  desire  to  be  alone,  sometimes  the  desire 
to  be  buried  ;  or  pictures,  such  as  being  buried  alive  or  concealed 
in  the  mother's  body  (Gruner).  At  times  I  have  discovered  as 
a  fulfillment  of  this  wish  to  dominate  in  solitude,  the  habit  of 
remaining  a  long  time  on  the  stool.  Wholly  in  the  same 


NEUROTIC  PRINCIPLES  133 

direction,  i.e.,  of  gaining  the  upper  hand,  the  neurotic  carries 
out  his  exaggerated  yielding  and  adaptability,  but  the  patient 
is  in  this  always  on  the  watch,  although  he  tries,  too,  in  this  way 
to  captivate  those  who  are  stronger,  to  deviate  toward  the  more 
manly  line  and  to  enjoy  his  open  triumph. 

The  inclination  to  daintiness  furnishes  the  neurotic  with  the 
same  readiness  for  conflict.  By  this  means  he  can  decry  every- 
thing, secure  himself  against  decisions  and  lay  claim  to  his  pre- 
rogative. He  will  be  finicky  in  such  instances  as  harmonize 
best  with  his  tendencies  and  where  he  can  gain  the  most 
advantages.  In  eating,  in  the  choice  of  friends,  in  amorous 
relations,  he  secures  to  himself  thereby  a  troublesome 
superiority.  Every  one  is  obliged  to  make  allowances  for  him 
because  he  is  sick,  nervous.  This  trait  of  character 
rises  to  great  performances  as  soon  as  the  fear  of  the  sexual 
partner,  of  marriage,  makes  use  of  it.  No  girl,  no  man,  then 
amounts  to  anything,  and  a  twisted  ideal  furnishes  the  neurotic 
with  a  point  of  support  for  the  disparagement  of  every  one.  At 
other  times  and  in  other  relations,  this  trait  manifests  itself  as 
an  arrangement,  as  the  foresight  of  an  individual  who  has  not  as 
yet  conquered  the  weak  point  of  his  feeling  of  inferiority.  He- 
can  also  be  moderate  "when  the  wind  blows  from  the  north- 
west," when  his  will  to  power  requires  it.  One  of  the  universal 
methods  of  quieting  children  when  they  show  discontent  is  by 
comforting  them  with  a  prospect  of  the  future,  when  they  will 
be  big,  grown  up.  One  often  hears  children  themselves  say, 
'  When  I  am  grown  up,  I  will.  .  ."  The  problem  of  growth- 
engages  the  attention  of  children  to  an  extraordinary  extent  and 
in  the  course  of  their  development  they  are  constantly  reminded 
of  it.  It  is  thus  in  regard  to  the  size  of  his  body,  the  growth  of 
his  hair,  of  the  teeth,  and  as  soon  as  he  comes  to  speculations 
concerning  the  sexual  organs  by  the  growth  of  the  pubes  and  the 
genital  organs.  The  entrance  of  the  child  upon  his  masculine 
role,  of  which  we  have  often  spoken,  requires  a  distinct  large- 
ness of  the  person  of  the  individual  and  of  the  parts  of  his  body. 
Where  this  is  denied  him — and  here  we  encounter  again  the 
basis  of  somatic  inferiority,  especially  the  causal  rickets  (thymus 
anomalies  ?),  anomalies  of  the  thyroid,  of  the  sperm  glands, 
hypophysis,  etc. — the  child  has  recourse  on  account  of  its  desire 
for  masculine  value  to  the  positing  of  the  masculine  protest. 
Then  it  acquires  the  heightened  impulse  to  covetousness,  envy, 
bragging,  greed,  activity,  together  with  the  acute  feeling  of 
contrast  and  begins  to  measure  himself  constantly  with  others, 
especially  with  the  persons  of  importance  in  his  environment, 
and  finally  with  the  heroes  from  tales  and  stories.  Thus  the 
individual  comes  to  a  wishful  contemplation  of  the  future  and  the 
phantasy  incited  by  the  craving  for  security  fills  all  wishes. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE  DEROGATORY  TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS  ;  OBSTINACY 
AND  WILDNESS  ;  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS  OF  NEUROTICS  AS 
A  MEANS  OF  COMPARISON  ;  SYMBOLIC  EMASCULATION  ;  FEEL- 
ING OF  BEING  BELITTLED  ;  EQUALITY  TO  MAN  AS  A  LIFE-PLAN  ; 
SIMULATION  AND  NEUROSIS  ;  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  MASCULINITY  ; 
IMPATIENCE  ;  DISCONTENT  ;  INACCESSIBILITY 

THE  compulsive  craving  of  the  neurotic  to  fill  his  egoistic  ideal 
with  the  overvalued  masculine  traits  impels  him,  especially 
because  of  the  obstacles  of  reality,  to  a  change  in  the  formula  of 
his  guiding  line,  so  that  he  attempts  to  attain  the  goal  which  he 
values  as  equal  to  the  masculine  goal  by  means  of  circuitous 
paths.  What  drives  him  to  a  psychosis  is  his  longing  to  realize 
an  unattainable  ideal.  Should  he  suffer  a  defeat  in  the  main  line 
of  his  masculine  protest,  or  should  he  even  anticipate  such  a 
-defeat,  he  seeks  a  substitute  which  he  temporarily  considers  as  of 
equal  value  through  an  arrangement  of  intensified  reassuring 
expedients.  At  this  point  there  begins  as  a  rule  that  process  of 
psychic  transformation  which  we  designate  as  neurosis,  in  so  far 
as  the  guiding  fiction  does  not  lead  to  a  violation  of  reality,  the 
patient  only  feeling  it  as  a  disturbing  element,  as  is  the  case  in 
neurasthenia,  hypochondriasis,  anxiety  and  compulsion  neuroses 
and  in  hysteria.  In  the  psychosis  the  guiding  masculine  fiction 
appears  disguised  in  pictures  and  symbols  of  infantile  origin. 
The  patient  then  conducts  himself  no  longer  as  if  he  wished  to 
TDC  masculine,  above,  and  as  if  he  sought  to  attain  this  end  by 
every  possible  means,  but  through  the  medium  of  anticipation 
as  though  he  already  had  attained  all  these  ends  and  only 
indicates  at  first,  incidentally  and  in  the  manner  of  a  foundation 
(depression,  persecutory  and  self-accusatory  ideas,  ideas  of 
poverty),  that  he  is  underneath,  unmanly,  feminine. 

For  the  sake  of  clarity,  I  will  now  proceed  to  the  description 
of  some  neurotic  character  traits  which  tend  in  a  direct  line  to  the 
masculine  egoistic  ideal,  or  are  so  closely  connected  therewith 
that  they  force  themselves  upon  the  understanding  as  only  slight 
deviations  of  the  masculine  protest.  They  have  been  generally 
regarded  as  active,  masculine  traits  and  the  neurotic  can  thus 
appeal  to  this  general  opinion  in  which  there  is  agreement.  But 
we  have  already  endeavored  to  show  in  previous  chapters  that 
in  the  construction  of  masculine  traits  the  choice  of  the  fictitious 
goal  is  dependent  upon  and  guided  only  within  circumscribed 
limits  by  the  conscious  understanding  of  the  neurotic  or  even  of 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       135 

the  critical  observer.  He  also  makes  use  of  such  guiding  lines 
which  to  general  logic  do  not  always  seem  masculine,  or  at  least 
only  in  part  so,  such  for  example  as  coquetry,  deception,  etc. 
As  the  direct  traits  of  character  in  line  with  the  masculine  protest 
may  be  emphasized,  the  frequently  displayed  tendency  to  be  a 
man  through  and  through,  courageous,  ready  for  attack,  open, 
hard-hearted,  cruel,  to  excel  everyone  in  strength,  influence, 
power,  wisdom,  etc.  When  the  fundamental  feeling  of  inferiority 
demands  stronger  reassuring  compensations — because  "of  an 
expected  defeat  or  the  suspicion  of  one,  this  compensation  ensues 
by  a  strengthening  of  the  readiness  for  conflict  which  now  strives 
toward  the  masculine  feeling  of  superiority,  often  by  circuitous 
and  more  abstract  ways,  revealing  simultaneous  and  often  con- 
tradictory traits — after  the  manner  of  tricks  and  artifices.  It  is 
then  that  the  neurotic  may  manifest  pliancy  instead  of  obstinacy, 
or  side  by  side  with  it,  or  as  the  occasion  may  require  it,  traits 
of  exorbitant  arrogance  and  modesty,  roughness  and  mildness, 
courage  and  cowardice,  lust  for  power  and  submissiveness. 
masculinity  and  femininity,  all  of  which  are  used  to  gain  security 
from  defeat  or  in  order  to  permit  him  by  circuitous  ways  to 
enhance  his  own  egoistic  ideal  or  disparage  that  of  others.  That 
it  is  possible  to  conquer  by  weakness,  submissiveness  and 
modesty  is  shown  in  the  example  of  women  and  by  many 
examples  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  dominancy  of  the  self-created  deities,  of  the  guiding  fiction 
is  always  easily  discernible  and  is  revealed  in  the  psychosis  with 
unmistakable  clarity.  I  will  endeavor  to  show  by  means  of  a 
dream  of  a  22-year-old  girl  who  was  suffering  from  enuresis 
nocturna  and  in  the  daytime  from  frequent  outbreaks  of  rage 
and  ill-humor,  who  could  get  along  with  no  one  but  rae,  and  who 
often  had  suicidal  ideas,  that  all  of  these  phenomena,  together 
with  other  traits  of  lust  for  power,  of  obstinacy  or  of  anxiety 
were  under  the  guidance  of  the  masculine  protest,  and  that  this 
protest  was  dependent  in  turn  upon  a  constitutional  inferiority 
of  the  urinary  organ,  which  in  combination  with  ugliness  and 
mental  retardation  gave  the  impulse  to  the  compensatory 
exhibition  of  an  exaggerated  masculine  guiding  line.  In  order 
to  make  the  case  brief  and  comprehensible,  I  preface  the  remark 
that  the  patient  had  applied  the  realities  of  her  childhood  to  a 
reassuring  neurosis,  had  constructed  the  enuresis  as  an  ever- 
ready  expedient  and  always  had  recourse  to  this  symptom  when 
her  egoistic  feeling  suffered  a  humiliation.  In  this  case,  too, 
there  was  manifested  the  colossal  power  of  the  tendency  to  dis- 
paragement in  the  arrangement  of  the  seizures  which  drove  the 
mother  to  a  powerless  despair,  while  at  the  same  time  the  patient 
disparaged  her  mother  in  the  usual  form  of  an  allusion  by  excusing 


i36  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

herself  from  all  fault  and  throwing  the  blame  on  another.     The 
following  dream  shows  this  in  a  specially  clear  manner. 

"  My  mother  showed  my  friend  the  dirty  cover  of  the  bed. 
We  began  to  quarrel.  I  say  the  cover  is  yours  and  begin  to  cry 
bitterly.  I  awake  flooded  in  tears." 

A  short  time  before  she  related  to  me  that  she  often  awoke 
weeping  from  sleep  without  knowing  the  cause  of  her  weeping. 
From  the  connection  of  the  genesis  of  the  disease  which  was 
apparent  even  at  that  time,  the  weeping  w;as  of  significance  in 
relation  to  the  mother,  it  represented  one  of  the  most  usual 
childish  procedures  for  diminishing  the  mother's  superiority. 
After  the  communication  of  the  dream  she  remarked,  "  You  will 
certainly  believe  that  you  are  right  in  your  opinion  concerning 
my  weeping."  One  hears  such  remarks  during  a  psycho- 
therapeutic  treatment  as  a  regular  thing,  and  must  not  overlook 
the  concealed  criticism  therein  as  a  device  of  the  tendency  to 
disparage,  which  is  directed  against  everybody.  The  moderate 
expression  of  the  same  on  this  occasion  led  me  to  suspect  that 
the  cure  of  the  neurosis  was  in  progress,  as  the  more  lively 
reactions  were  absent.  Formerly  under  similar  circumstances 
she  would  have  asserted  sharply  and  passionately  that  I  was 
wrong,  or  she  would  have  omitted  to  mention  or  would  have 
forgotten  those  dreams  which  confirmed  my  view.  I  was  further 
confirmed  in  my  assumption  by  the  information  that  the  patient 
after  the  dream  immediately  took  off  the  slightly  soiled  bed 
linen  and  washed  it  in  secret  which  was  never  the  case  before 
because  the  sight  of  the  soiled  linen  was  intended  for  her  mother. 

For  the  explanation  of  the  dream  she  related  the  following. 
She  was  firmly  convinced  that  her  mother  told  all  her  acquaint- 
ances about  her  enuresis.  All  her  relatives  seemed  to  know  of 
her  weakness.  Once  an  uncle,  obviously  in  order  to  comfort 
her,  had  informed  her  that  both  he  and  another  brother  had  for 
a  long  time  been  in  the  habit  of  wetting  the  bed.  In  her  dreams 
she  reproached  her  mother,  telling  her,  "  The  weakness  is  in 
your  family,  you  are  to  blame  if  I  soil  the  bed,  the  soiled  cover 
is  yours." 

She  related  further  that  in  changing  she  often  took  a  bed-slip 
instead  of  a  cover  ;  the  one  was  closed,  the  other  open  ;  adding, 
"  And  it  is  easy  to  mistake  them  in  the  closet." 

Behind  this  thought  lies  the  problem  of  open  and  shut  which 
is  clearly  recognizable  as  an  expression  for  the  oppositeness  of 
the  sexes.  She  blames  her  mother  for  the  disease,  but  at  the 
same  time  casts,  so  to  speak,  a  furtive  glance  at  its  source  and 
spring,  that  is,  the  femininity  for  which  she  blames  her  mother 
and  betrays  to  us  in  the  masculine  protest  of  her  dreams  how 
slightly  she  estimates  the  difference  between  man  and  woman. 
Similarly  George  Sand  declared  that  there  was  only  one  sex.  The 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       137 

quarrelling  and  weeping  is  the  most  important  attitude  of  her 
aggression  against  her  mother  whose  superiority  she  tried  to 
destroy  in  this  way  as  well  as  by  her  adherence  to  the  enuresis. 
The  fact  that  at  the  present  time  she  operates  against  men  by 
her  enuritic  device  and  thereby  avoids  marriage  and  "  the 
tyranny  of  man,"  is  a  natural  result  to  be  inferred  from  other 
perspectives  of  her  neurotic  psyche. 

An  example  of  the  change  of  formula  of  the  guiding  masculine 
fiction  which  originally  was  "  I  will  be  a  man,"  in  the  above 
described  stage  of  the  treatment  was,  "  I  will  be  superior  to  my 
mother  like  a  man,"  and  later  on  was  expressed  in  the  words, 

I  will  humiliate  my  mother  by  feminine  means."  In  a  dream, 
therefore,  in  a  tentative,  anticipatory  test,  this  guiding  line  as 
we  have  maintained  it  to  be  comes  to  stronger  expression.  The 
dream  is  as  follows  : 

"  /  lie  in  a  burning  bed.  All  weep  about  me.  I  laugh  aloud." 

A  discussion  of  free  love  had  preceded  the  dream.  The 
burning  bed,  according  to  the  patient's  interpretation  represented 
amorous  pleasure.  We  translate  according  to  our  understanding 
of  the  dream.  "  How  would  it  be  if  I  should  embrace  free  love  ? 
Then  my  mother  would  be  humiliated  but  I  would  laugh  at  her, 
would  be  superior  to  her."  Attention  must  also  be  called  to 
the  expression  "  burning,"  which  arises  so  frequently  in  psychic 
constructions  which  spring  from  the  urinary  functions  in  antithesis 
to  water  (enuresis).1 

The  laughing  in  this  dream  is  equivalent  to  the  weeping  in 
the  first  dream.  Both  show  the  aggressive  tendency  which 
seeks  the  mother's  defeat.  In  this  case,  too,  the  untenability  of 
the  assumption  of  a  splitting  of  personality  is  readily  perceivable. 
Just  as  erroneous  would  be  the  assumption  of  a  real  sexual  wish. 
This  means  would  only  serve  the  purpose  of  the  patient  if  the 
mother  were  set  back  and  she  could  play  the  part  of  man  in 
regard  to  her. 

The  guiding  fiction  of  the  equality  to  man  comes  to  expression 
in  some  way  or  other  in  all  women  and  girls.  As  I  was  able  to 
show  in  the  foregoing  case,  it  is  the  change  of  formula 
necessitated  by  reality  which  disguises  the  masculine  protest. 
Hence  it  is  essential  in  the  analysis  of  neurotic  female  patients 
to  discover  at  what  point  they  protest  against  their  femininity. 
This  point  can  always  be  found,  for  the  pressure  toward  the 
maximation  of  the  ego-consciousness  necessitates  the  construction 
of  a  reassuring  guiding  line  which  is  erected  as  an  antithesis  to 
the  idea  "  feminine."  Cultural  or  uncultural  ideas  of 
emancipation,  of  militancy  directed  against  men  and  their 

*Adler,  "  Stndie,"  1.  c.,  Addendum.  Freud  has  already  touched  upon 
the  relationship  between  fire  and  water  in  the  dream,  and  the  allegorical 
representation  based  on  this. 

L 


138  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

privileges  are  usually  found  in  normal  women  and  girls.  They 
seek  to  diminish  the  distance  as  much  as  possible  in  dress, 
attitude,  customs,  laws,  views  of  Jife.  The  masculine  protest 
of  neurotics  is  exaggerated  in  all  these  directions.  In  dress 
glaring  but  at  the  same  time  mannish  fashions  are  affected,  as 
the  lengthening  of  single  parts  of  dress  and  the  wearing  of  strong 
high  shoes.  Or  they  avoid  all  fashions  in  dress  which  are 
distinctly  feminine.  Often  there  is  a  lively  fight  against  the 
corset,  a  fight  directed  against  the  confinement,  but  which  can 
also  serve  other  purposes  and  is  often  brought  into  play  to  avoid 
seeing  company  and  is  most  usually  directed  against  the  husband. 
The  attitude  and  habits  of  neurotic  women  are  often  so  masculine 
that  it  is  noticeable  from  the  first  moment.  Crossed  legs  and 
arms,  and  at  times  only  indications  which  betray  this  tendency, 
as  well  as  the  tendency  to  take  the  left  side  as  a  man  does  or 
to  allow  no  one  to  stand  in  front  of  them,  etc.,  as  in  the  dream. 
In  the  neurotic's  view  of  life  the  usual  ideal  over-estimation  of 
the  masculine  qualities  is  compensated  for  in  a  practical  manner 
by  the  disparagement  of  men.  In  sexual  relations  anasthesia  is 
the  rule.  Masculine  variants,  or  those  which  disparage  man  are 
given  preference. 

The  neurotic  psyche  of  men  offers  the  same  characteristics. 
It  derives  its  artifices  from  an  imaginary  consciousness  of 
femininity  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  feeling  of  complete  manliness. 
One  of  my  patients  who  was  suffering  from  asthma  nervosum 
presented  a  very  clear  example  of  this  dynamic.  He  had  been 
a  weak  child  and  had  suffered  from  the  exudative  diathesis,  a 
relation  to  which  Striimpell  has  called  attention.  His  early 
catarrh  permitted  him  already  in  childhood  to  press  his  mother 
into  his  service.  She  took  him  to  her,  cared  for  him  in  her 
bedroom  and  yielded  to  all  his  wishes.  He  was  early  placed 
under  the  care  of  a  strict  governess  of  whom  he  could  not  get  the 
better,  notwithstanding  his  rage  and  intractability.  He  felt  weak 
before  her  and  thus  became  acquainted  with  childish  deceptions 
by  means  of  which  he  was  able  to  escape  the  governess,  that  is, 
he  simulated  and  exaggerated  the  catarrhal  affection  by  an 
arrangement  of  coughing  and  excitation  of  the  bronchial  tubes 
and  larynx  and  by  asthmatic  phenomena  which  he  produced  after 
the  manner  of  straining  at  difficult  defecation,  by  tension  of  the 
abdomen  and  closing  of  the  anus.  He  soon  learned  to  know  that 
these  phenomena  gained  him  a  place  in  his  mother's  room,  and 
in  the  course  of  years  produced  an  asthmatic  device  which  he 
set  unconsciously  into  activity  whenever  he  felt  compelled 
on  account  of  his  overtense  fictitious  guiding  goal  to  rise  to  the 
position  of  the  lord  of  the  house,  and  incidentally,  of  the 
governess.  He  soon  gained  the  victory  so  that  the  governess  was 
forbidden  to  treat  him  severely  or  to  beat  him. 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       139 

We  see  how  his  egotistic  ideal  had  at  its  disposal  from  now 
on  a  neurotic  weapon  which  placed  him  in  a  position  to  escape  a 
defeat  or  to  prevent  the  emergence  of  the  feeling  of  his  original 
inferiority  in  a  circuitous  way,  that  is,  no  longer  by  obstinacy, 
rage,  courage,  manliness,  but  that  he  sought  to  get  ahead  by  a 
sort  of  treachery,  craft,  unmanly  conduct,  cowardice,  a  leaning 
on  the  mother.  This  subterfuge,  hypostasized.  and  elaborated 
to  an  unconsciously  working  mechanism,  furnished  him  the 
necessary  security  for  his  whole  life.  His  neurotic  symptom 
which  was  constantly  defended  and  laid  claim  to  by  further 
auxiliary  lines  of  his  trait  of  character,  i.e.,  "to  possess  every- 
thing "  by  his  lust  for  power,  by  his  obstinacy  and  disputatious- 
ness,  and  at  the  same  time  by  his  cowardice,  fear  of  new 
undertakings,  fear  of  men  and  women  and  by  the  tendency  to 
disparagement  which  always  evolves  from  these  traits  and  which 
played  such  an  important  role  in  his  aggressive  devices  furnished 
him  a  new  organ,  a  means  of  making  himself  important  in  a 
special  way,  to  dominate  his  world,  inasmuch  as  he  could  always 
demand  the  protection  of  his  mother.  He  felt  safer  with  his 
mother  than  with  his  wife,  and  thus  he  was  driven  by  necessity 
to  fall  in  love  with  his  mother,  a  love  which  upon  closer  analysis 
proved  to  be  a  sort  of  tyranny.  Pregnancy  phantasies  reflected  for 
him  the  feelings  of  humiliation  connected  with  a  feminine  role 
and  alternated  with  thoughts  about  castration  and  with  phantasies 
about  being  a  woman.  His  impulse  to  masturbation  revealed  the 
attempt  to  emancipate  himself  victoriously  from  women,  to  avoid 
a  defeat,  to  conduct  himself  in  a  manly  fashion,  and  was  continued 
in  similarly  directed  phantasies  of  greatness,  both  of  which  were 
forms  of  expression  of  his  masculine  protest.  The  imagined 
smallness  of  his  genital  organs,  a  thought  which  made  a  marked 
impression  upon  him,  served  him  as  a  figure  and  perceptional 
form  for  his  inferiority  and  feminine  nature.  From  his  childhood 
he  sought  to  attribute  all  his  unsuccessful  efforts  and  defeats  to 
his  small  penis,  apperceived  and  grouped  his  experiences  in  this 
direction  and  according  to  related  antithetical  forms  of  apper- 
ception of  "  Manly-womanly."  The  small  penis  represented  to 
him  the  figurative  marginal  concept  between  masculinity  and 
femininity  and  was  manifestly  constructed  as  was  the  attitude 
of  the  patient  on  the  idea  of  a  corporal  and  psychic  herma- 
phroditism  and  its  tragedy.  It  is  no  wonder  that  in  the  psycho- 
analysis of  these  cases  with  the  male-female  manner  of 
apperception  which  belongs  to  the  foundation  of  the  neurotic 
psyche,  one  hits  only  upon  sexual  relations.  They  are  all  to  be 
understood  as  a  modus  dicendi,  as  a  jargon,  and  figurative 
modes  of  expression  and  are  to  be  resolved  into  forms,  whereby 
strength,  victory,  triumph  come  to  expression  in  male  sexual 
symbols,  defeat  in  female  and  the  neurotic  artifices  in  both 


140  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

together,  usually  also  in  a  perverse  or  hermaphroditic  symbolism. 
It  was  easy  to  detect  in  our  patient  that  besides  the  sexual 
mode  of  expression  he  had  another  fashion  of  apperception 
based  upon  the  antithetical  formula  of  inspiration-expiration 
which  had  been  set  in  operation  by  the  inferiority  of  his. 
respiratory  organ  inclusive  of  the  nose.  Even  the  speech  used 
for  our  mutual  understanding  likewise  made  use  of  such  formulae 
and  a  sigh  of  relief  from  an  oppressed  breast  could  very  well 
be  clothed  in  the  figure  of  "  having  air  again."  The  patient 
was  also  able  to  represent,  in  pantomime  form,  memories  of  his 
boyhood  race,  a  wild  race  to  get  to  first  place,  the  desire  to  be 
the  first  at  the  goal  by  means  of  breathless  efforts.  In  a  dream 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  treatment  he  made  use  of  his  ability 
to  whistle  (which  is  to  be  understood  figuratively)  in  order  to 
accentuate  his  manliness  by  respiration.  The  dream  was  as 
follows  : 

"  It  seemed  to  me  that  four  people  were  whistling.  I  remark 
that  I  can  do  it  just  as  well  as  they." 

A  short  time  before  he  had  begun  a  relation  with  the  governess 
in  the  family  of  his  married  brother  and  had  asked  her  the 
question  if  his  brother  often  visited  his  wife  at  night.  The  girl 
answered  in  the  negative.  Being  able  to  whistle  is  the  ideal  of 
all  small  boys  and  some  girls  make  efforts  to  acquire  this  manly 
attitude.  In  his  dream  he  made  a  tentative  comparison  to  see 
if  he  was  the  equal  of  his  male  relatives  and  thus  arrived  from  this 
line,  which  originated  in  his  feeling  of  effeminacy,  to  the 
masculine  protest.  He  is  the  equal  of  all  four. 

In  this  case  too  I  found  my  observation  confirmed  that  the 
neurotic  feels  his  sexual  libido,  and  manifests  the  same  only  in 
accordance  with  the  manner  and  degree  that  is  required  by  his 
fictive  goal,  so  that  every  psychological  opinion  which  perceives 
in  the  libido  a  constitutionally  acquired  factor,  in  its  alterations 
and  fortunes  the  essence  of  the  neurosis,  becomes  untenable.  It 
is  especially  easy  to  arrange  sexual  excitations  and  they  are 
always  in  some  way  subordinated  to  the  masculine  protest.  The 
indentification  of  masculinity  with  sexuality  takes  place  in  the 
neurosis  by  means  of  abstraction,  symbolization  and  a  figurative- 
somatic-jargon,  and  it  is  this  false  artifice  of  the  neurotic  which 
fills  his  thought  content  with  sexual  pictures. 

The  contentiousness  and  hidden  querulousness  which  stand  in 
the  closest  relation  to  the  "tendency  to  disparagement  present 
difficult  tactical  and  pedagogic  problems  to  the  psychothera- 
peutist.  They  betray  in  every  case  the  weak  point,  the  feeling 
of  inferiority  of  the  patient  which  drives  him  to  compensation. 
It  is  easy  to  uncover  this  neurotic  aggressiveness  by  a  very  simple 
mode  of  approach.  Let  it  be  imagined  that  the  neurotic  feels 
that  he  has  entirely  lost  his  masculinity  and  feels  himself 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       141 

humiliated  and  now  let  it  be  noted  through  what  artifice  he  seeks 
to  carry  out  the  completion  of  his  character  or  his  over- 
compensation.  One  will  then  find  a  number  of  preparatory 
devices,  characteristics,  syndromes  and  symptoms  which  have  for 
their  aim  the  representation  of  an  ideal  organ,  but  one  must 
however  be  prepared  to  view  this  as  a  riddle,  which  requires 
solution.  For  this  "  ideal  organ,"  namely — the  neurosis  or 
psychosis — is  of  masculine  origin  and  has  for  its  purpose  the 
prevention  of  a  lowering  of  the  patient's  ego-consciousness,  and 
to  bring  him  closer  to  his  masculine  goal.  Cruel  reality,  however, 
impedes  the  development  of  this  fiction  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  most  peculiar  circuitous  ways  must  be  resorted  to  so  that 
partial  and  apparent  results  are  striven  after  without  bringing 
the  patient  nearer  to  his  goal.  Without  the  help  of  the 
psychotherapeutist  who  in  rare  cases  may  prove  to  be  a  substitute 
for  the  fortunes  of  life,  this  "  will  to  seem  "  becomes  more  and 
more  accentuated  in  case  of  failure,  and  constantly  strengthens 
the  abstract,  main  line  of  the  old  guiding  fiction.  One  of  the 
principal  circuitous  ways  along  which  this  ideal  organ — i.e.,  the 
masculine  protest, — works,  is  the  tendency  to  disparagement. 
That  is  the  reason  that  it  has  been  mentioned  so  often  because 
it  attracts  the  attention  of  the  physician  and  is  an  expression 
of  the  strength  of  the  neurotic  impulse.  It  likewise  furnishes 
an  ever-present  point  of  contact  by  means  of  which  it  may  be 
possible  to  instil  some  insight  into  the  patient  and  it  is  at  the 
bottom  of  those  phenomena  which  Freud  has  described  as 
resistance  and  has  falsely  viewed  as  the  result  of  repressed 
sexual  excitations.  With  this  tendency  the  neurotic  comes  to  the 
physician  and  he  carries  it  with  him,  as  does  also  the  normal 
person,  when  he  returns  home.  Only  that  then  his  increased 
insight  stands  as  a  guard,  warning  him  against  giving  expression 
to  this  tendency  and  thus  the  patient  is  forced  to  show  his  desire 
to  be  "  first  "  in  other  ways. 

One  should  never  hesitate  to  guard  all  expressions  of  doubt, 
of  critique,  of  forgetfulness,  of  tardiness,  all  demands  of  the 
patient,  relapses  after  improvements,  continued  silence,  as  well 
as  adherence  to  symptoms  as  effective  means  of  the,  tendency 
toward  disparagement  directed  against  the  psychotherapeutist. 
One  will  rarely  err  in  proceeding  thus  and  usually  be  justified 
in  this  opinion  by  the  comparison  of  coincident  phenomena  of 
a  similar  trend.  The  expressions  of  these  tendencies  are  often 
of  the  most  subtle  nature.  Shall  I  add  that  the  most  extensive 
experience  and  knowledge  in  regard  to  this  "  tendency  to 
disparage  "  is  barely  sufficient  to  prevent  being  taken  by  surprise, 
and  that  a  great  deal  of  tact,  renouncement  of  authority,  and 
even  friendliness,  watchful  interest  and  the  consciousness  of 
"being  in  the  presence  of  a  sick  person  with  whom  it  is  out  of 


142  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

place  to  engage  in  strife  are  indispensable  to  good  results  ? 

I  found  it  necessary  once  to  explain  to  a  stuttering  patient 
the  position  of  the  larynx,  by  means  of  a  drawing.  Instead  of 
taking  the  drawing  home  with  him  as  he  had  intended  in  order 
to  give  it  further  consideration,  he  left  it  with  me  on  the  table. 
The  next  day  he  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour  late,  first  went  to  the 
toilet,  related  something  of  another  patient  who  had  complained 
of  me,  and  after  some  silence  related  a  dream  which  ran  as 
follows  : 

"  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  been  looking  at  a  drawing.  A 
cylinder  extended  out  from  a  circle;  it  did  not  run  straight  but 
sideways." 

The  interpretation  showed  that  this  dream  had  reference  to 
the  drawing  of  the  larynx  on  which  the  larynx  was  drawn  straight 
downwards.  The  patient  argued  with  me  in  the  dream  as 
though  he  would  say  "  How  would  it  be  if  my  physician  were 
wrong  ?  ' '  and  thus  revealed  to  me  his  distrustful  attitude — the 
fear  of  being  deceived  and  at  the  same  time  the  tendency  to 
disparagement  directed  against  me,  which  had  been  revealed  by 
the  subconscious  measures  of  the  forgetfulness,  the  delay,  the 
recital  of  the  complaint,  the  silence,  and  finally  by  the  tentative 
endeavor  in  the  dream  to  put  me  in  the  wrong.  One  may  justly 
expect  that  the  patient  applies  his  stuttering  for  the  same 
purpose  against  me  and  will  continue  thus  to  use  it.  In  spite 
of  many  contradictions  he  forced  me  into  the  role  of  a  former 
teacher  whom  he  often  corrected,  so  that  he  could  continue  to 
use  against  me  his  former  artifices.3  This  was  revealed  by  his 
remarks  concerning  his  dreams  and  further  from  the  fact  that 
his  disease  was  assumed  and  adhered  to  in  order  to  decry  his 
father  and  gain  superiority  over  him. 

A  female  patient  who  was  assigned  to  me  for  treatment 
because  of  depression,  suicidal  ideas,  weeping  fits  and  "lesbischen 
Neigungen  "  was  sent  by  me  after  a  brief  course  of  treatment, 
because  of  the  suspicion  of  a  genital  affection,  to  a  gynecologist 
who  removed  a  large  myoma  and  prognosticated  a  cure  of  the 
neurosis  from  the  operation.  After  the  operation  the  patient 
journeyed  to  her  home  and  from  there  wrote  me  that  the 
gynecologist  was  right  in  his  prognosis.  Of  course  she  added 
it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  operation  succeeded  better  in  the 
case  of  a  countess  upon  whom  the  same  surgeon  had  operated, 
and  of  whom  she  had  read  in  the  papers,  than  it  had  in  her  case. 
Soon  afterwards  she  visited  me,  argued  against  one  of  my 
contributions  which  she  had  in  some  way  procured,  declared  her 
extreme  interest  in  my  method  of  treatment,  said  her  condition 
was  the  same  as  before  the  operation  and  vanished.  From  the 

3  An  artifice  which  had  for  its  purpose  a  tendencious,  derogatory,   affective 
expression. 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       143 

portion  of  her  history  which  she  communicated  to  me  during 
the  treatment  it  became  apparent  among  other  things  that  she 
lived  at  sword  's-point  with  her  whole  environment,  that  she 
dominated  her  husband  entirely,  that  she  hated  the  village  and 
played  the  man  psychically  and  sexually  to  one  of  her  friends. 
Her  fear  of  the  blessing  of  children  was  astounding,  -sexual 
relations  unbearable  because  her  husband  seemed  too  heavy. 
When  the  latter  visited  her  once  during  the  treatment,  she  had 
the  day  before  his  visit  the  following  dream  : 

"  It  seemed  to  me  (that  the  whole  room  was  enveloped  by  fire. 

She  gave  the  information  spontaneously  that  this  was  a  typical 
dream,  and  that  it  always  returned  at  the  time  of  her  menstrual 
period.  This  time  it  occurred  a  long  time  before  her  period.  The 
dream  could  be  easily  recognized  as  an  attempt  to  use  a  feminine 
situation,  menstruation,  for  the  purpose  of  the  masculine  protest 
— that  is  to  avoid  sexual  relations.  A  deeper  penetration  into 
the  meaning  which  would  certainly  have  revealed  an  enuresis  in 
childhood  (fire-myoma,  see  "  Studie,"  Appendix)  was  prevented 
by  the  interruption  of  the  treatment.  I  received  another  letter 
which  contained  the  assurance  that  the  patient  from  now  on 
would  try  to  find  peace  in  her  environment  in  my  sense  of  the 
word.  I  think  that  this  must  have  been  still  difficult  for  her. 

Obstinacy,  wildness  and  unruliness  may  in  the  same  way  serve 
as  the  proof  which  female  patients  seek  in  order  to  show  how 
little  they  are  fitted  for  the  feminine  role.  These  preparations 
begin  already  in  the  earliest  childhood  and  lead  gradually  to 
physical  and  psychic  aptitudes  in  gestures,  facial  expression, 
emotional  predispositions  and  mimicry,  while  the  character 
develops  in  the  direction  of  the  ideal  guiding  line  and  cautiously 
introduces  the  patients'  attitude  of  life.  In  many  cases  these 
characteristics  are  manifested  in  a  direct  manner  and  serve  with- 
out deviation  for  the  expression  of  the  masculine  protest.  Or 
there  takes  place  a  change  of  formula  in  the  guiding  fiction, 
either  because  of  the  emergence  of  contradictions  in  the  guiding 
line,  in  the  event  of  a  real  or  threatened  defeat,  or  because  of 
something  that  usually  coincides  therewith,  namely,  an  obstacle 
of  reality  which  is  estimated  as  unsurmountable.  Under  the 
construction  of  a  security-giving  anxiety  or  feeling  of  guilt,  or 
security-giving  antithetical  traits  (dissociation  of  other  writers), 
the  deviations  in  neurotic  circuitous  ways  follow.  But  the 
preparatory  devices  persist.  It  is  only  that  the  neurotic  cautious- 
ness introduces  the  devia — under  these  new  forms  of  security, 
anxiety,  feeling  of  guilt,  seizures,  when  the  patient  would  other- 
wise have  had  to  answer  with  the  originally  developed  emotions 
such  as,  anger,  rage,  aggression.  Frequently  there  come  to  light 
purposefully  grouped  memory  pictures  of  a  certain  "boundless- 
ness," thoughts,  memories,  illusions  as  though  one  were 


144  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

boundlessly  desirous,  sensuous,  demoniac,  criminal,  are 
manifested,  at  times  obviously  arranged  oversights  and  accidents 
which  are  nothing  else  than  admonitions  to  be  cautious.  Or  the 
sudden  termination  of  the  direct  masculine  aggressiveness  takes 
place  always  just  before  a  decision,  a  peculiarity  which 
characterizes  many  neurotic  love  affairs.  The  deviation  in  such 
cases  from  the  direct  guiding  line  may  follow  in  a  perverse 
manner  under  the  influence  of  the  craving  for  security,  or  the 
guiding  line  leads  him  to  seek  the  protection  of  the  father, 
mother,  God,  alcoholism  or  an  idea.  Attempts  to  reach  the  top 
through  feminine  means,  or  to  surpass  at  least,  all  women,  leads 
to  excessive  cleanliness,  to  the  "  cleaning  mania,"  to  a 
masochistic  subjection  or  coquetry,  to  a  desire  to  please  and  in 
female  patients  to  a  constant  fretting.  Along  with  this  there  will 
always  be  found  character-traits  and  tell-tale  traces  which  betray 
that  the  masculine  fiction  is  all-powerful  and  seeks  to  arrive  at 
its  purpose  by  these  circuitous  ways.  The  excessive  eroticism 
in  many  of  these  cases  is  not  to  be  understood  as  real,  that  is  to 
say,  as  depending  upon  a  constitutional  basis,  but  shows  itself 
to  be  associated  with  the  fiction,  and  to  be  due  to  an 
uninterrupted  attentiveness  which  has  taken  an  erotic  direction. 
The  same  is  true  of  perversions  and  an  apparently  weakened 
libido,  which  are  constructed  from  neurotic  subterfuges.  All 
sexual  relations  in  the  neurosis  are  only  a  simile. 

The  fear  of  the  superiority  of  the  male  and  the  depreciatory 
struggle  directed  against  it  is  often  clothed,  as  result  of  the 
neurotic  antithetical  perspective,  in  phantasies  of  emasculation 
which  have  for  their  object  the  deprivation  of  the  male  of  worth. 
In  the  dreams  of  these  female  neurotic  patients  this  comes 
clearly  to  light  and  can  be  readily  proved  by  coexistent 
derogatory  tendencies.  One  of  these  dreams  is  here  given.  The 
patient  came  under  my  care  shortly  after  she  had  undergone  an 
operation  for  a  fistula,  because  of  a  compulsory  thought  and 
excitement.  The  compulsory  thought  ran,  "  I  shall  never  be 
able  to  attain  anything."  At  our  very  first  meeting  she 
expressed  the  thought  whether  I  would  be  able  to  attain  any- 
thing. The  same  line  of  disparagement  illuminated  her  dream. 
She  dreamed,  "I  cried  out  in  my  dream,  Marie,  the 
fistula  is  there  again."  The  surgeon  had  promised  her 
complete  recovery  and  kept  his  word.  He  is  under  obligations 
to  her  in  many  ways  and  did  not  wish  to  take  a  fee.  The  patient 
became  very  excited  over  this  and  regarded  it  as  an  humiliation. 
For  some  time  after  she  tortured  herself  with  plans  for  paying 
the  debt.  Her  servant  was  called  Marie,  and  she  had  never 
spoken  to  her  about  the  operation.  If  there  should  take  place  a 
new  breaking  out  of  the  fistula  her  first  trip  would  be  to  the 
surgeon  to  whom  she  would  express  her  opinion  Marie,  a 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       145 

female  servant,  becomes  the  surgeon.  The  patient  imagines  the 
circumstances  demanded  by  her  masculine  egoistic  feeling,  the 
surgeon  has  operated  poorly,  has  not  kept  his  promise,  is  a 
woman  and  a  servant  at  the  same  time  This  expresses  the  way 
in  which  she  could  attain  everything  if  she  were  only  a  man. 

When  one  examines  the  published  analyses  of  no  matter  what 
psychological  school  the  mechanism  of  the  neurotic  masculine 
protest  will  always  be  found  therein.  I  shall  again  emphasize 
this  in  connection  with  the  analysis  of  a  case  of  migraine. 

The  patient  related  immediately  from  the  reminiscences  of 
her  childhood  that  she  had  constantly  lived  in  conflict  with  her 
elder  brothers  because  they  wished  to  dominate  her.  This  sort 
of  reminiscences  led,  as  soon  as  they  were  voluntarily  related, 
to  a  hidden  contest  against  male  domination,  and  one  will  never 
be  deceived  in  the  assumption  that  other  character-traits  also 
point  to  this  strife  to  become  equal  to  the  male.  Uninfluenced, 
our  patient  continued  to  relate  that  she  played  almost  exclusively 
with  boys  and  was  treated  by  them  as  one  of  their  kind.  This 
method  of  expression  betrayed  very  clearly  the  high  estimation 
in  which  the  male  sex  was  held,  which  brought  this  girl  nearer 
to  her  father — something  which  may  easily  be  interpreted  as 
sexual  love  for  the  father  and  as  the  "  incest  complex." 

The  development  of  our  patient  took  the  same  course.  She 
took  her  father  wholly  as  her  ideal  ;  especially  as  she  once  caught 
her  mother  in  a  lie  she  was  anxious  to  imitate  her  father's 
example  of  truthfulness  and  punctuality/  She  remembered  also 
that  her  father  had  often  regretted  that  she  was  not'  a  boy,  and 
that  it  was  his  wish  that  she  should  study.  In  this  situation  an 
egoistic  feeling  was  naturally  developed  in  which  ambitious 
efforts  could  not  be  absent.  On  the  other  hand  her  bashfulness 
which  wrecked  many  of  her  principles  was  very  noticeable  to 
herself  and  others.  This  bashfulness  is  found  with  extraordinary 
frequency  in  the  histories  of  neurotics.  It  is  identical  with  the 
feeling  of  uncertainty,  as  soon  as  this  is  manifested  in  relations 
•with  others.  Blushing,  stuttering,  downcast  looks,  avoidance  of 
the  society  of  adults,  excitement  before  examinations  and  stage 
fright  often  accompany  the  attempts  at  approaches  to  other 
people  or  at  the  establishment  of  relations  with  them.  Analysis 
shows  that  the  feeling  of  inferiority  is  the  source  of  this  sort  of 
uncertainty,  usually  accompanied  by  a  strong  feeling  of  shame. 
The  feeling  of  inferiority  is  conditioned  by  somatic  inferiority 
which  makes  itself  felt  psychically,  by  faults  of  childhood  and 
strong  psychic  pressure  on  the  part  of  parents  and  relatives, 
and  finally  by  real  or  imagined  femininity  which  develops  early 

'What  other  authors  term  imitativeness,  identification,  is  always  to  be 
J«o!ced  upon  ns  the  assumption  of  a  model  for  the  purpose  of  a  heightening  of 
•the  ego-consciousness. 


146  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

in  strong  contrast  to  a  male  member  of  the  family  (father  01 
brother).  The  analogy  according  to  which  the  most  diverse 
emotions  of  being  belittled,  of  humiliation,  of  inferiority  are 
apperceived  by  the  child  is  then  usually  the  analogy  of  "  the 
smallness  of  the  penis,"  which  is  to  be  understood  symbolically, 
and  thoughts  of  castration  develop,  of  a  feminine  role  in  sexual 
relations,  of  conception  and  pregnancy  or  of  persecution,  of 
being  stabbed  or  wounded,  of  falling  and  being  "  beneath."  All 
these  fictions  are  revealed  in  day-dreams,  hallucinations, 
dreams,  in  so  far  as  they  are  not  wholly  supplanted  by  the  fiction 
of  the  masculine  protest  and  express  a  feeling  of  being  belittled, 
which  breaks  forth  in  the  thought,  "  I  am  a  woman,"  against 
which  the  egoistic  feeling  presses  forward  and  the  masculine 
protest  struggles. 

Of  our  patient  we  hear  that  she  had  some  knowledge  of  sexual 
relations  at  a  time  when  from  lack  of  experience  she  was  unable 
to  take  into  account  its  results  and  purposes.  In  such  cases  we 
may  always  expect  to  find  bashfulness,  shame  and  doubt,  and  in 
later  years  fear  of  tests  and  decisions  in  every  form,  traits  of 
character  which  resolve  themselves  analytically  into  the  idea 
that  others  might  be  able  to  discover  on  the  person  of  the  patient 
genital  defects  or  omissions.  The  characteristics  which  display 
an  effort  to  attain  equality  with  the  male  sex  are  usually 
manifested  at  an  early  age,  and  this  effort  occupies  the 
foreground,  while  in  many  cases  because  of  a  tinge  of  hopeless- 
ness "  the  innate  coloring  of  the  decision  "  is  affected.  Because 
the  direct  route  to  masculinity  is  closed  or  seems  to  be  so, 
circuitous  and  deviating  ways  are  sought  out.  On  one  of  these 
circuitous  ways  lies  the  socially  valuable  effort  of  woman  toward 
emancipation,  on  another,  the  private  expression  of  the 
masculine  protest,  the  neurosis  of  woman,  the  construction  of  the 
ideal  male  organ. 

It  was  easy  to  see  in  the  case  of  this  patient  that  in  her  child- 
hood she  had  sought  to  attain  the  domination  of  man,  of  her 
brothers  and  her  father,  as  she  apparently  had  made  very  short 
work  of  her  mother.  Her  father  fell  entirely  under  her  authority. 
After  a  little  experience  the  conclusion  is  easily  arrived  at 
concerning  the  direction  of  her  neurotic  symptoms,  that  her 
headache  and  migraine  represent  since  her  marriage  a  means  for 
gaining  the  mastery  over  her  husband.  And  in  this  mastery  she 
sought  a  substitute  for  her  masculine  power  which  she  believed 
she  had  lost. 

I  know  the  objection  which  might  be  raised  at  this  point.  How 
shall  the  severe  suffering  of  a  neurosis,  the  terrible  pain  of 
trigeminal  neuralgia,  insomnia,  unconsciousness,  paralysis, 
migraine  all  be  thrown  into  the  bargain  merely  as  a  means  to  an 
end,  because  of  the  failure  to  attain  equality  with  man  ?  I  have 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       147 

myself  struggled  against  this  conviction  which  thrust  itself  upon 
me.  Is  the  case  very  much  different  when  human  beings  endure 
all  sorts  of  hardships  for  a  whole  life  time  in  order  to  attain 
some  other  worthless  bubble  ?  Furthermore,  as  I  have  already 
shown,  on  these  neurotic  circuitous  paths  to  masculinity  are.  found 
also  crime,  prostitution,  the  psychosis,  suicide.  This  in  addition 
to  the  mystery  which  shrouds  human  psychic  mechanisms  may  be 
cited  in  support  of  my  understanding  of  the  matter.  The  psychic 
therapy  of  the  neuroses  is  certainly  based  upon  an 
understanding  of  the  exaggerated  valuation  of  the  male 
destiny.  And  I  draw  from  this  objection  the  advantage 
in  regard  to  my  patients  inasmuch  as  I  endeavor  to  show  them 
how  they,  placed  before  a  choice  between  a  natural  role  in  the 
neurotic  masculine  goal,  choose  the  greater  of  the  two  evils. 

From  the  previous  history  of  our  patient  the  further  facts  may 
be  emphasized  that  she  always  had  a  disinclination  to  play  with 
dolls,  furthermore  that  until  her  marriage  she  took  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  gymnastics  and  sports.  That  these  efforts,  too, 
served  as  a  substitute  for  masculinity  is  manifested  more  from 
their  connection  with  other  masculine  traits  than  from  their  own 
nature,  more  especially  from  a  sort  of  importunity  with  which 
the  patient  spoke  of  them.  She  was  also  passionately  fond  of 
extensive  touring,  of  which  inclination  since  the  birth  of  her 
child,  whom  she  wished  and  expected  to  be  male,  only  the  desire 
to  make  occasional  journeys  remained. 

The  error  must  be  avoided,  however,  of  assuming  that  the 
traits  of  character  here  described  and  emphasized  by  the  patient 
herself  formed  isolated  islands  in  the  extensive  soul-life  of  a 
woman.  On  the  contrary,  it  must  be  assumed  that  these 
masculine  traits  came  to  expression  under  the  pressure  of  a 
dominating  tendency,  had  their  origin  in  a  distinct  life-plan  and 
became  conspicuous  phenomena  only  because  they  had  the  power 
to  do  so,  while  all  around  these  phenomena  there  existed  an 
indistinct,  only  occasionally  manifested  masculine  craving  which 
was  principally  occupied  with  the  prevention  and  transformation 
of  feminine  emotions  until  such  time  as  it  shall  have  reached  an 
independent  existence.  In  this  conflict  of  masculine  against 
feminine  emotions  the  egoistic  feeling  is  thrown  entirely  on  the 
side  of  masculinity  and  makes  use  even  of  persistently  emerging 
feminine  emotions,  among  others  also  of  the  female  sexual 
appetite  in  order  to  collect  them  as  humiliating  and  dangerous,* 
to  group  them,  to  exaggerate,  to  emphasize  them  and  at  the 
same  time  to  surround  them  with  sentinels  so  that  they  may  be 
robbed  of  their  influence.  These  sentinels,  securities,  usually 
extend  beyond  the  sphere  of  feminine  emotions.  One  always 

4  This  affective   accentuation   is   always  derived   from  a   purposeful  device. 
Feminine  r61e  and  abyss,   drowning,   death,  being  run  over,  or  strangled. 


148  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

finds  that  these  reassurances  and  protective  devices,  among 
which  should  be  placed  our  symptoms  of  disease,  do  not  stop  at 
the  mere  fulfillment  of  their  destiny,  that  is,  the  avoidance  of 
defeat,  but  that  they  permeate  these  patients  with  a  sort  of 
•cautiousness  which  finally  renders  them  unfit  for  anything.  It  is 
only  then  that  the  primary  insecurity  which  may  be  likened  to 
a  fear  of  a  feminine  role  is  at  an  end,  but  by  this  time  it  has 
permeated  the  entire  life-relation  of  the  individual  and  forces 
him  outside  the  realm  of  all  social  relationship.  We  find  all  our 
patients  in  the  midst  of  this  retreat  and  their  symptoms  are  for 
them  assurances  that  they  will  not  be  forced  back  into  the  tumult 
of  life.  From  this  there  develops  a  neurotic  picture  which  often 
reveals  a  reversion  to  simpler,  more  child-like  relations,  either 
because  these  are  developed  after  maturity,  or  for  the  reason  that 
maturity  was  generally  impeded.  Thus  many  act  as  though  they 
were  in  the  nursery.  Family  relations  become  accentuated  to  an 
•extraordinary  degree,  or  instead  of  childish  love  for  the  parents 
the  old  childish  obstinacy  develops  and  both  factors  are  used 
as  guiding  symbols,  as  though  the  patient  sought  to  discover  in 
.all  persons  the  father  or  mother.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
he  comes  in  conflict  with  reality  on  account  of  this  fiction,  the 
patient  holds  fast  to  it  because  he  found  security  in  the  relations 
existing  in  the  nursery.  Kipling  relates  of  a  person  lying  in  the 
death  struggle,  whom  he  observed  until  the  expected  cry  for  the 
mother  came  from  his  lips.  One  has  only  to  listen  to  the  street- 
Arabs,  who,  when  hard  pressed,  immediately  cry  out  for  their 
mother,  in  order  to  comprehend  this  longing  for  security.  The 
same  longing  for  security  has  crept  into  the  worshipping  of  the 
Mother  of  God.  In  girls,  the  longing  for  security  is  as  a  rule 
in  more  pronounced  analogy  to  the  relation  to  the  father.  The 
"  uterine  phantasy  "  which  is  placed  in  the  foreground  by  G. 
Griiner  I  have  also  found  employed  by  neurotics  only  when  they 
wish  to  express  that  peace  can  be  found  only  with  the  mother 
or  when  they  have  thoughts  of  suicide,  that  is,  the  wish  to  return 
io  the  same  state  in  which  they  were  before  birth.  (The  herma- 
phroditic progression  backward.) 

Our  patient,  too,  as  child  and  girl  sought  this  leaning  on  her 
father  who  spoiled  her  not  a  little.  The  mother,  as  is  often  the 
case,  was  more  attracted  to  her  brothers.  This  trait  also  shows 
itself  to  be  conditioned  by  the  exaggerated  estimation  of  the 
masculine  principle,  which  the  father,  being  a  man,  would  more 
Teadily  renounce  in  her  favor.  Our  patient  soon  noticed  that  her 
father's  care  for  her  increased  whenever  she  was  ill.  Thus  she 
came  to  have  a  special  preference  for  being  sick,  which  procured 
for  her  further  petting,  love,  and  sweetmeats.  She  must  have 
regarded  as  the  most  appropriate  substitute  for  that  manliness 
-which  she  believed  to  be  lost  to  her,  that  condition  of  sickness 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       149 

which  gained  for  her  the  command  of  the  whole  house,  the 
gratification  of  all  her  wishes  and  permitted  her  to  escape  all 
unpleasant  encounters  in  school  and  society.  Yes,  it  meant  for 
her  the  highest  attainable  potency,  her  feeling  of  security,  as 
soon  as  her  father  believed  that  she  was  ill.  And  she  sometimes 
pretended  to  be  ill,  that  is,  she  simulated  or  exaggerated. 

This  fact  of  simulation  in  childhood  is  often  found  in  the 
anamneses  of  neurotics.  I  have  called  attention  to  this 
phenomenon  in  the  "  Psychischen  Behandlung  der  Trigeminus 
Neuralgic,"  and  have  mentioned  that  children  often  pretend  to 
be  deaf,  blind,  dumb,  etc.  E.  Jones  mentions  this  fact  in  his 
"  Hamletstudie,"  and  calls  attention  to  the  resemblance  of 
Hamlet's  pretense  to  that  of  children.  There  are  many  historical 
examples  such  as  Saul,  Claudius  and  others,  and  they  show  us  the 
problem  in  its  pure  culture.  The  accompanying  thought  is 
always  how  can  I  secure  myself  from  a  danger,  how  can  I 
avoid  a  defeat  ?  It  is  clear  that  the  neurotic  who 
apperceives  according  to  the  analogy  man-woman  perceives 
in  the  domination  of  a  position  a  masculine  equivalent,  a 
substitute  and  protection  for  the  threatened  loss  of  manliness. 
And  the  technique  of  simulation  consists  in  the  fact  that  the 
individual  sets  forth  a  fiction  and  acts  in  accordance  therewith 
as  though  he  had  the  defect  which  would  require  such  action, 
while  he  knows  and  maintains  that  he  has  no  such  defect.  We 
maintain  that  the  psychically  conditioned  neurotic  symptom 
arises  in  the  same  way  only  with  this  difference  that- the  fiction 
is  not  recognized  as  a  fiction,  but  is  held  as  true.* 

As  is  frequently  the  case,  we  can  obtain  the  best  insight  into 
this  condition  not  from  a  neurotic  symptom,  but  from  a  borderline 
case.  We  mean  the  psychology  of  sympathy.  We  are  in  a 
position  to  feel  the  suffering  of  another  person  as  if  it  affected 
our  own  corporal  sphere.  Yes,  we  can  even  feel  the  suffering  of 
another  in  anticipation  before  its  occurrence.  Well  known 
examples  of  this  are  the  anxious  feelings  which  many  persons 
experience  when  they  see  others,  servant  girls,  roof  workers  or 
circus  actors  in  dangerous  situations,  or  even  when  they  only 
think  of  such  situations.  These  symptoms  are  usually  felt  by, 
those  who  suffer  from  dizziness  when  in  high  places  and  they  act 
when  others  are  in  danger  exactly  as  though  they  themselves 
stood  at  a  window  or  on  a  rock.  They  withdraw  under  the  feeling 
of  anxiety,  placing  a  safe  distance  between  themselves  and  the 
usually  not  dangerous  position,  in  short,  they  have  a  feeling  akin 
to  that  which  they  would  have  were  they  themselves  in  a 
dangerous  position.  Here  the  exaggerated  cautiousness  becomes 
apparent  which  in  neurotics  is  so  strong  that  they  will  not  cross 

3  See  theoretical  part,  Chapter  III.,  "The  accentuated  fiction." 


J5Q  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

a  bridge  for  fear  that  they  might  fall  into  the  water  or  throw 
themselves  into  it.  I  have  found  similar  mechanisms  of  cautious- 
ness in  all  cases  of  fear  of  places  and  they  reveal  to  us  that  we 
have  a  patient  who  wishes  to  avoid  decisions,  who  fears  whether 
he  is  equal  to  a  certain  situation,  usually  the  sexual  partner.  In 
all  other  phobias,  too,  as  I  have  shown  in  my  description  of 
syphilidophobia,  (Zeitschr.  f.  Psych.,  Bd.  I,  Heft  9,  1911),  this 
"sympathy"  in  a  situation  which  has  not  as  yet  been  realized, 
but  which  may  be  expected  with  probability,  constitutes  the 
characteristic  symptom  (Lipps).  It  reveals  itself  as  a  very 
efficient  tool  of  the  craving  for  security,  takes  the  place  in  many 
cases  of  a  morality  which  is  not  invincible  in  character.  Careful 
examination  of  this  character-trait  reveals  that  it  has  its 
foundation  in  that  sort  of  feeling-participation  for  purposes  of 
security,  which  is  clearly  set  forth  in  Kant's  categorical 
imperatives  for  the  expression  of  the  whole  character,  when  this 
philosopher  wishes  each  single  individual  to  be  influenced  in  his 
action  by  a  point  of  view  which  permits  of  being  regarded  as  if 
it  were  elevated  to  a  universal  maxim.6 

Fictions,  maxims,  guiding  principles  then  similar  to  the 
reassuring  fictions  of  the  simulator  form  part  of  the  mental 
character  of  all  persons,  especially  of  neurotically  inclined 
children.  And  reduced  to  their  nucleus  all  of  these  formulae  are 
as  follows  :  Act  as  though  you  were  a  complete  man,  or  wished 
to  be  one.  The  content  of  this  procedure  which  usually  turns 
out  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  substitute  is  determined  beforehand 
by  the  experience  of  the  child  and  by  the  special  type  of  somatic 
inferiority  from  which  he  suffers,  but  is  subject  to  special 
alterations  which  must  be  regarded  as  formal  changes  arising 
from  special  circumstances  connected  with  experiences  to  whicn 
"he  gives  neurotic  valuations. 

Somatic  inferiority  determines  through  the  accompanying 
psychic  phenomena  of  repugnance  the  direction  of  the  ideas  of 
pleasure  and  thus  conducts  the  compensatory  processes  into  the 
psychic  regions.  Here,  too,  we  behold  the  craving  for  security 
at  work  and  usually  in  such  a  purposeful  manner  that  it  works 
coefficients  which  offer  security  and  thus  gives  rise  to  an  over- 
compensation.7  In  the  development,  for  instance  of  the  stuttering 
Demosthenes  to  the  greatest  orator  of  Greece,  of  Clara 
Schumann  (who  was  deaf)  to  an  accomplished  musician,  of  the 
near-sighted  G.  Freitag,  of  many  poets  and  painters  with 
anomalies  of  the  eye  to  visually  talented  persons,  and  of  the 
numerous  physicians  with  anomalies  of  hearing,  we  perceive  the 
result  of  the  craving  for  security.  We  likewise  see  the  result 
in  every  weak  child  who  wishes  to  be  a  hero,  in  the  clumsy  child 

6  Vaihinger,  "  The  Philosophy  of  As  If." 

7  J.  Reich,  "  Art  and  the  Eye,"  5st,  Rundschau,  1909. 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       151 

with  thyroid  affection  who  wishes  to  be  an  athletic  racer  and  later 
in  life  always  tries  to  be  the  first. 

But  the  direction  of  the  craving  for  security  in  order  to  have 
its  objective  point  must  depend  upon  an  example.  And  here  the 
man  offers  more  attraction  to  the  egoistic  feeling  of  childhood 
than  does  the  woman.  Indeed  it  seems  that  a  female  example 
can  only  be  imitated  after  an  initiatory  conflict  and  only  when 
this  feminine  example  permits  the  attainment  of  mastery  along 
the  lines  of  least  resistance. 

This  was  the  case  with  our  patient  as  it  often  is  with  cases 
of  migraine.  Numerous  writers  have  emphasized  the  circum- 
stance that  it  is  so  often  possible  to  trace  the  inheritance  of 

.  migraine  from  the  mother.  We  must  give  up  the  idea  of  the 
inheritance  of  migraine  in  the  same  manner  as  we  were  obliged 
to  abandon  the  view  of  its  organic  etiology.  I  have  already 
explained  the  nature  of  this  question8  in  the  case  of  a  seven-f 
year-old  girl,  and  had  before  that  been  convinced  that  a  feeling 
of  uncertainty  and  humiliation  precedes  the  attack  of  migraine, 
and  that  the  attacks  serve  to  place  the  whole  household  at  the 
service  of  the  sufferer,  for  which  reason  the  example  of  the 
mother  is  imitated.  The  husband,  the  father,  other  relatives 
suffer  no  less  from  the  attack  than  does  the  patient.  Thus 
migraine  is  to  be  placed  in  the  series  of  neurotic  affections 
which  serve  to  secure  the  mastery  in  the  household  and  in  the 
family.  That  this  tyranny  has  a  masculine  significance  and  can 
be  reduced  to  the  wish  to  be  a  man  becomes  obvious  from  further 
analysis.  But  a  brief  consideration  of  the  migraine  which  occurs 
at  the  time  of  menstruation  teaches  us  to  understand  in  this 
case  also  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  feminine  role.  I  have  in 
various  instances  learned  to  recognize  this  connection  with 

__je,pilepsy,  sciatica,  trigeminal  neuralgia.  I  have  proved  that 
these  latter  concfftibns  in  the  cases  mentioned  by  me  were 
psychogenic  in  nature  and  originated  whenever  stronger 
securities  were  demanded. 

The  only  sphere  of  influence  which  remained  for  our  patient 
was  her, tyranny  over  her  father,  over  whom  she  had  complete 
power,  and  this  did  not  entirely  satisfy  her  lust  for  power. 
Hence,  a  "still,  still  more"  declared  itself,  as  is  often  the  casein 
neurotic  affections,  and  she  sought  a  more  obvious  grasp  of  the 
subjugation  of  the  father.  Her  mother  suffered  from  migraine 
and  the  time  of  her  attacks  was,  as  is  usual  with  patients 
suffering  from  migraine,  a  time  of  absolute  power.  Therefore 
our  patient  also  who  comprehended  the  value  of  the  disease 
pretended  to  be  suffering  from  it."  And  our  patient  succeeded 
'  "  Neurotische  Disposition,"  Jahrbuch  Bleuler- Freud,  1908. 
*In  my  work  on  "  The  Neurotic  Disposition,"  I  have  already  emphasized 
•what  must  likewise  be  mentioned  here,  that  an  original  somatic  inferiority  deter- 
mines the  choice  of  a  symptom.  In  the  neurosis  the  mechanism  becomes  the 
property  of  the  psyche  in  the  form  of  a  disease-preparedness. 


152  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

in  doing  what  aboriginal  man  succeeded  in  doing  when  he  made 
himself  gods  who  filled  him  with  terror,  in  creating  for  herself 
the  migraine.  This  "  as  if  "  creation,  this  fiction  became 
substantially  independent,  so  that  the  pain  and  suffering  could 
awaken  whenever  the  patient  needed  them.  The  dramatic 
performance  became  so  successful  that  the  patient,  because  of 
its  value  in  the  direction  of  her  tendencies,  no  longer  saw 
through  the  fiction.  Indeed  she  won  by  means  of  the  same  a 
superiority  over  and  security  against  the  husband  just  as  she  had 
previously  done  in  regard  to  her  father  when  she  made  use  of 
this  weapon  to  attain  security.  She  strove  to  attain  a  masculine 
part  in  the  marriage  relation,  directing  all  her  activities 
towards  gaining  the  mastery  over  her  husband,  but  as  there 
always  remained  an  "and  yet"  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  still 
further  substitutes  as  evidences  of  power.  And  the  most 
important  of  these  substitute  formations  was  the  resolution  not 
to  have  any  more  children.  It  had  become  a  general  principle 
in  the  household  of  this  patient  as  in  many  others  (one  of  which 
I  described  in  the  :<  Mannliche  Einstellung  Weiblicher 
Neurotiker,"  Zeitsch.,  f.  Psychoanalyse,  Heft  4,  1910)  that  a 
woman  who  suffered  from  such  headaches  should  have  no  more 
children.  Insomnia,  impossibility  of  going  to  sleep  again  after 
having  been  disturbed,  references  to  the  difficulties  concerning 
the  place  of  residence,  various  protective  arrangements  and  the 
spoiling  of  the  only  child  completed  the  security. 

That  these  phenomena  are  merely  a  new  view  of  the  old  wish 
for  masculinity  is  proved  by  her  first  dream. 

"7  was  at  the  depot  with  my  mother.  We  wished  to  -visit  my 
father  who  was  ill.  I  was  afraid  of  missing  the  train.  Then 
suddenly  my  father  appeared.  Then  I  was  at  a  watch  maker's 
and  wanted  to  buy  a  substitute  for  the  one  I  had  lost." 

She  felt  superior  to  her  mother  who  was  greatly  respected  by 
her,  and  also  to  her  father  who  humored  her  slightest  wish. 
Sick  means  weak.  The  father  had  died  a  short  time  previously. 
Shortly  after  his  death  she  had  one  of  her  dreadful  attacks  of 
migraine.  In  the  dream  he  came  to  life  again  and  his  person 
signified  for  her  a  maximating  of  her  ego-consciousness.  She 
had  always  been  impatient,  afraid  of  being  late.  Her  brother 
came  before  she  did  and  became  a  man.  She  felt  spurred  on 
to  hasten  (a  man  does  it  with  one  bound,  a  woman  with  a 
hundred),  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  summit  of  her  ego-conscious- 
ness. The  day  before  the  dream  she  was  hastening  to  a  concert 
and  was  held  back  by  her  mother.  Women  are  often  late  and  she 
did  not  wish  to  follow  their  example. 

Reality  reminded  her  nevertheless  that  she  was  a  woman  like 
her  mother.  The  thought  lies  in  the  picture  of  being  together 
with  her  mother  at  the  dep6t.  Her  aggressive  affect  which  is 


TENDENCY  TO  DISPARAGE  OTHERS,  ETC.       153 

identical  with  the  masculine  protest  is  directed  against  her 
husband,  against  her  father.  In  the  further  analysis  of  the 
dream  the  disparaging  thoughts  come  to  light,  such  as  that  .the 
wife  is  stronger,  more  vigorous  and  healthier  than  the  man. 
Then  as  a  further  incentive  to  conflict,  the  father  (the  man) 
suddenly  emerges.  This  simile  is  taken  from  swimming  and 
signifies  in  the  neurotic  perspective  the  "  being  above  "  in 
opposition  to  being  "  beneath."  While  the  patient  was  afraid 
of  missing  the  train,  of  being  left  behind  in  comparison  with 
another,  that  is  to  say  in  comparison  with  the  man,  which  can 
be  supplied  from  the  connection — to  submit  to  him,  she  notices 
as  her  experience  increases  that  the  man  is  first,  is  above.  The 
application  of  a  picture,  of  an  abstract  idea  in  space  for  the 
purpose  of  illustrating  the  feeling  of  being  belittled  is  often 
found  in  the  neurosis,  (See  Syphilidophobia,  1.  c.)  because  it  is 
adapted  to  prepare  the  disposition  to  conflict  in  the  most 
extensive  manner  by  means  of  the  fictitious,  abstract  antithesis 
"  nothing  or  all."  In  the  same  manner  the  artifice  is  made  use 
of  in  painting,  of  representing  the  power  of  woman  and  the  fear 
she  inspires  by  giving  her  a  higher  position  in  space.  In 
religious  and  cosmological  phantasies  this  representation  of 
superiority  is  the  elevation  of  the  position  assigned.  That  in 
her  dream  the  patient  came  through  the  spatially  antithetical 
scheme  according  to  the  analogy  of  "  man-woman,"  is  indicated 
in  the  position  of  the  patient  beside  her  mother,  that  is,  with 
her  mother. 

Thus  the  first  dream  which  the  patient  had  during  the  course 
of  the  treatment  begins  with  considerations  of  masculine  and 
feminine  roles.  One  should  never  neglect  to  take  into  consider- 
ation unprejudicially  the  possibility  of  the  continuation  of  the 
dream  and  to  await  and  compare  new  confirmatory  data,  even 
though  the  psycho-therapeutist  may  have  the  most  firm 
convictions  concerning  the  significance  of  the  problem  for  the 
neurosis.  The  further  explanation  of  the  patient  was  in  regard 
to  a  watch  chain  which  had  been  lost  through  the  fault  of  her 
husband.  She  cannot  remember  having  lost  a  watch.  Interro- 
gated concerning  the  significance  in  the  dream  of  the  watch 
which  was  substituted  for  the  chain,  the  patient  answered  with 
considerable  affect  but  evasively,  that  it  was  not  the  loss  of  the 
chain  but  of  a  charm  attached  to  it  that  disturbed  her.  In 
short  the  watch  hanging  to  a  lady's  chain  is  identical  with  the 
lost  watch  charm  for  which  the  patient  grieves  and  for  which 
she  seeks  a  substitute. 

The  dream  began  with  a  symbolic  contrast  represented  in 
space  of  an  inferior  femininity  with  a  superior  masculinity  and 
ends  with  the  logically  following  conclusion  of  the  striving  for 
a  substitute  for  the  lost  masculinity.  In  this  fictitious  guiding 

M 


154  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

line  thus  constructed  the  character,  the  affect  reaction,  the 
predispositions  and  neurotic  symptoms  must  be  represented,  the 
correctness  of  which  assumption  the  result  of  the  case  substan- 
tiated. The  character-traits  of  impatience,  discontent,  obstinacy 
and  reticence  proved  therefore  to  be,  as  did  all  the  rest,  auxiliary 
lines  which  stood  in  a  dependent  relation  to  the  guiding  fiction, 
that  of  attaining  a  masculine  elevation. 


CHAPTER  V 

CRUELTY.   CONSCIENCE.   PERVERSION  AND  NEUROSIS 

THE  discovery  of  traits  of  a  cruel  nature  in  very  earliest 
childhood  is  unusually  frequent  in  the  course  of  an  analysis  of 
neuroses  and  psychoses.  It  would  be  wrong  to  apply  our  moral 
standards  to  the  first  two  years  of  life,  and  to  regard  the 
activities  of  such  children,  who  in  reality  are  still  incapable  of 
either  good  or  evil,  as  sadistic  or  brutal  as  it  often  happens  when 
parents  or  guardians  relate  the  histories  of  psychopaths.  For  these 
manifestations  become  psychic,  or  in  our  sense  neurotic  only 
when  they  begin  to  serve  a  definite  end  and  are  constructed  as  an 
abstraction  which  has  some  future  tendency  in  view.1  The  fact 
that  they  are  always  created  out  of  possibilities  and  capabilities 
of  experience  does  not  justify  the  assumption  of  a  constitutional 
factor.  As  a  matter  of  fact  one  only  finds  the  character-trait  of 
cruelty  as  a  compensatory  psychic  construction  in  those  children 
who,  apart  from  this,  are  forced  by  their  feeling  of  inferiority  to 
an  early  and  hasty  development  of  their  ideal  of  personality. 
The  accompanying  traits  of  obstinacy,  rage,  sexual  precocity, 
ambition,  envy,  greed,  malice  and  delight  in  doing  harm  as  they 
are  regularly  evoked  by  the  guiding  fiction,  and  which  the  strife 
and  emotional  predispositions  help  to  form  and  mobilize,  furnish 
the  highly  colored  kaleidoscopic  picture  of  the  refractory  child. 
The  lust  for  power  of  such  children  is  regularly  manifested  in 
the  family  life  and  play,  but  most  of  all  in  their  bearing,  attitude 
and  glance.  In  the  play  and  early  thoughts  concerning  the 
choice  of  a  vocation,  the  tendency  to  cruelty  is  often  betrayed  in 
a  veiled  manner  and  makes  them  regard  as  ideal  types,  the 
hangman,  the  butcher,  the  policeman,  the  grave  digger,  the 
savage  or  coachman,  "because  they  can  whip  the  horses,"  or 
the  teacher,  "because  they  can  whip  the  children,"  the 
physician  "because  they  cut,"  or  the  soldier,  "because  they 
shoot,"  the  judge,  etc.3  The  spirit  of  investigation  is  also  often 
associated  with  this,  and  the  torturing  of  animals  and  children, 
speculations  and  phantasies  concerning  possible  misfortunes, 
often  of  those  which  might  befall  near  relatives,  an  interest  in 
funerals  and  church-yards  and  in  horrible  sadistic  stories,  are 
begun. 

1  See   also    Wagner    v.    Janreg.     "  Ueber    krankhaftc    Triebhandlungen," 
Wiener  klin.     Wochenschrift,  1912. 

'Adler,  "  Aggreasionstneb,"  1.   c. 

155 


156  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

The  first  purpose  of  these  exaggerated  tendencies  to  cruelty, 
is  to  prevent  the  emergence  and  the  becoming  effective  of  the 
ever  present  possibility  of  weakness  and  pity,  because  these 
stand  in  opposition  to  the  masculine  guiding  line.  The  general 
spreading  of  this  craving  to  be  manly  which  is  thought  to  lead 
to  superiority  over  others,  is  nowhere  so  clearly  shown  as  in  the 
disinterested  pleasure  in  injuries.  In  neurotics  this  may  be 
especially  strongly  emphasized  and  may  be  utilized  in  the  most 
unreasonable  manner  for  the  purpose  of  exalting  the  ego- 
consciousness.  La  Rochefoucauld  expresses  this  in  his  quaint 
manner  as  follows,  "There  is  something  in  the  misfortunes  of 
our  friends  which  is  not  quite  displeasing." 

I  heard  a  patient  laugh  aloud  when  told  of  the  Messina  earth- 
,  quake.  He  suffered  from  severe  masochistic  attacks.  Com- 
pulsory laughter  often  possessed  this  patient  when  he  was  in 
the  presence  of  a  superior  person,  his  teacher  for  instance,  or 
someone  who  had  some  claim  of  authority  over  him.  One 
finds  in  such  patients  a  strong  inclination  to  dominate  over  or 
torment  others,  at  times  sadistic  phantasies,  until  one  discovers 
that  the  compulsion  to  laughter,  the  lust  for  power  and  the 
sadism  are  erected  over  the  weak  point  of  the  feeling  of 
inferiority,  in  order  to  compensate  for  it.  Pyromania,  the 
delight  in  fire-brands  and  the  almost  irresistible  compulsion  to 
think  of  fire,  or  to  cry  out  "  fire  "  in  the  theatre  or  church  seem 
to  be  referable,  according  to  certain  of  my  findings,  to  defects 
of  the  sensitive  bladder  or  to  eyes  oversensitive  to  light,  or  at 
any  rate  to  preparations  for  the  compensation  of  these  defects. 
But  this  guiding  line  of  masculine  cruelty  is  threatened  with 
great  danger  and  accident  in  a  society  where  there  exist  ethical 
imperatives,  it  can,  therefore,  be  only  followed  in  a  disguised 
form.  Usually  one  sees  deviations  and  circuitous  paths  in 
following  which  the  sadistic  trait  seems  wholly  or  in  part  lost. 
In  this  way  the  neurotic  succeeds  in  gaining  superiority  over  the 
weak,  or  he  operates  on  this  new  line  so  skillfully  as  to  manage 
to  set  up  an  aggression  which  enables  him  to  dominate  and 
torture  others.  In  the  compulsion  neuroses  one  frequently  finds 
that  these  patients  have  abandoned  their  sadistic  guiding  line 
and  have  turned  to  penance  and  reassuring  measures,  which 
have  the  same  compulsory  character  and  are  not  less  oppressive 
for  the  environment  than  were  the  previous  emotional  predis- 
positions of  the  patient,  and  hence  are  fitted  in  the  same 
manner  as  prime  characteristics  to  render  obvious  the  superiority 
of  the  neurotic.  In  the  major  attacks  of  so-called  affective 
epilepsy,  of  hysteria,  of  trigeminal  neuralgia,  of  migraine,  etc., 
the  masculine  lust  for  power  turns  in  the  direction  of  the 
neurotic  "  readiness  for  a  paroxysm,"  but  the  helplessness  of 
the  environment  and  its  suffering  is  not  less  but  rather  greater 
than  in  the  rages  and  enmity  which  were  active  ways  oi  the 


CRUELTY,  CONSCIENCE,  ETC.  157 

neurotic.  An  inclination  for  antivivisectionism,  vegetarianism, 
prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals,  charity,  often  distinguishes 
these  connoisseurs  of  the  sufferings  of  others,  they  cannot  endure 
to  see  a  goose  bleed,  but  clap  their  hands  gleefully  when  their 
opponent  leaves  the  Exchange  a  bankrupt.  Their  inclination 
to  sectarianism  forms  an  inimical  antisocial  trait,  as  does  their 
severe  criticism  of  the  valuation  of  others  which  they  exhibit 
before  they  even  form  an  opinion  of  their  own.  Tolerance  is 
unknown  to  them,  unless  they  cry  out  for  it  for  themselves. 

If  I  sketch  here  traits  which  are  to  be  encountered  on  all  sides, 
they  are  nevertheless  traits  of  a  very  prevalent  neuroticism  and 
signs  of  a  deeply  grounded  uncertainty.  They  are  by  no  means 
inherent  in  human  nature,  but  are  rather  unsuccessful  forms  of 
the  masculine  protest  which  failed  to  bring  assurance  to  the  ego- 
consciousness.  Should  failure  result  in  following  the  main 
guiding  line,  neurotic  circuitous  ways  are  entered  upon  and  the 
"outbreak"  of  the  neurosis  or  psychosis  follows  as  a  result  of 
a  change  of  form  and  accentuation  of  the  guiding  fiction. 

I  must  also  disagree  with  the  theory  of  congenital  criminality 
of  children  and  criminals  promulgated  by  Lombroso  and  Ferrari, 
as  well  as  with  Stekel's  theory  of  the  universal  criminality  of 
neurotics.  (Aggressionstrieb,  1.  c.).  They  are  nothing  but 
forms  of  the  aggressive  impulse  become  accentuated  through 
the  feeling  of  inferiority,  and  which  makes  use  of  the  masculine 
guiding  line.  The  transformation  into  a  clearly  obvious  neurosis 
follows  the  abandonment  of  this  straightforward  aggression. 
Where  the  fear  of  a  decision  is  absent,  an  early  result  of  the 
security-giving  neurosis,  and  where  there  develops  a  strong 
tendency  to  deprive  others  of  life,  honor  and  property, 
criminality  is  the  result.' 

In  the  developed  neurosis,  on  the  other  hand,  one  finds 
memory-traces  of  cruelty,  criminality  as  well  as  those  of  sexuality 
purposefully  exaggerated,  falsely  grouped  and  retained. 
Through  the  imagining  of  an  accentuated  conscience  and 
exaggerated  feeling  of  guilt,  the  masculine  protest  is  diverted 
from  the  straight  path  of  aggression  and  becomes  inclined 
towards  routes  of  softheartedness.  It  is  only  in  the  affect  which 
occasionally  comes  to  the  surface,  in  the  analysis  of  the  seizures, 
in  the  traits  of  character  which  become  manifest  now  and  then 
as  is  the  case  frequently  at  the  onset  of  a  psychosis  and  the 
nature  of  the  goal  of  the  neurotic  subterfuges  and  traits  of 
character  which  have  become  diverted  from  the  straight  course, 
in  the  fact  that  a  tyranny  is  erected  in  spite  of  all  defeats,  in  the 
torture  of  others  through  self-torture,  and  finally  in  the  inter- 
mixture of  occasionally  emerging  original  and  direct  traits  of 
aggression,  that  one  discovers  the  fact  that  the  old  over-tense 

3  A.   Jassny,    "  Da-ss   "Weib    als    Verbrecher,"    Arch.    f.    Kriminal-peych., 
1911,  H.   19. 


158  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

goal  still  exists  and  that  a  change  in  the  form  of  the  fiction  has 
only  diverted  the  direction  of  the  original  tendency  into  other, 
often  apparently  opposite  channels. 

Thus  it  happens  that  following  a  decidedly  aggressive  period, 
the  greedy,  brutal  or  violent  traits  of  the  psychopath,  in 
anticipation  of  a  defeat  or  after  such  has  actually  been 
experienced,  may  be  made  to  approach  more  closely  or  even  too 
eagerly  general  moral  ideals,  through  the  construction  of  a 
fictitious  factor,  "  conscience,"  in  the  same  manner  as  the  path 
of  egocentric  evil  desire  was  entered  upon  from  a  feeling  of 
inferiority.  '  Then  I  am  destined  to  be  bad,"  in  this  and 
similar  ways  the  fictitious  life-plan  of  many  neurotics  is  uncon- 
sciously formed,  unfil  a  glance  into  the  abyss  tears  the  giddy 
subject  from  his  perilous  position  and  forces  him  to  seek  a 
stronger  security  than  is  actually  needed.  Conscience  develops 
out  of  the  simpler  forms  of  prevision  and  self-evaluation  under 
the  pressure  of  the  craving  for  security,  is  endowed  with  the 
attributes  of  power  and  raised  to  a  divinity,  so  that  the  individual 
may  construct  his  ideal  without  objection  from  any  side,  so  that 
he  may  be  able  better  to  orient  himself  in  the  uncertainty  of 
events  and  have  his  choice  in  attacks  and  methods  of  combat  to 
which  his  will  to  power  guides  him. 

But  the  neurotic  brings  about  a  reconstruction  of  his  traits  of 
character  even  for  the  sole  purpose  of  being  enabled  to  initiate 
the  struggle  to  better  advantage.  Such  is  the  case  when  he 
ascribes  to  the  sexual  partner  of  whom  he  stands  in  fear,  traits 
of  an  egotistic,  cruel  and  deceptive  nature.  He  is  then  likely 
to  hunt  out  and  exaggerate  from  his  memories  and  emotions, 
those  which  confirm  his  own  character  as  affectionate,  mild  and 
open.  For  the  purpose  of  proving  these  characteristics  he  will 
often  act  as  though  his  virtues  had  the  reality  of  innate  and  in- 
destructible qualities. 

One  important  question  must  still  be  touched  upon.  Nearly 
all  of  our  neurotic  patients  come  to  us  in  the  "  stadium  of  virtue," 
after  having  experienced  a  defeat,  and  we  must  therefore  expect 
to  discover  their  masculine  protest  less  in  direct  traits  of 
character  and  emotional  predispositions  than  in  neurotic 
circuitous  ways,  accentuated  security  devices,  which  may  be 
detected  only  with  difficulty  through  the  analysis  of  their  dreams 
and  symptoms.  One  will  discover  that  the  infantile,  fictive 
guiding  line  has  only  become  more  effective,  and  in  so  far  as 
it  concerns  the  cases  just  spoken  of,  that  their  neurotic  symptoms 
lead  to  a  more  intense  degradation  of  others  than  did  their 
original  cruelty  and  desire  to  torture.  For  all  these  guiding 
lines  are  tensely  stretched  between  the  insecurity  of  the  con- 
stitutionally or  subjectively  defective  individual  and  his  unattain- 
able ego-ideal.  However  far  back  into  childhood  sadism, 
perversions  of  various  sorts,  sexual-libido,  in  short  the  masculine 


CRUELTY,  CONSCIENCE,  ETC.  159 

protest  may  extend,  they  are  always  constructed  according  to  a 
life-plan  and  reveal  their  dependence  thereon.  The  liberation 
of  the  sadism  from  the  neurotic  predisposition,  and  in  the  sense 
of  Freud,  from  the  unconscious  and  from  repression,  is  to  be 
likened  to  a  carrying  back  of  the  neurosis  to  an  earlier  stadium, 
to  a  time  before  the  defeat.  Freud's  scientific  work,  important 
and  full  of  results  as  it  was  for  the  understanding  of  the 
neurosis,  did  not  give  a  correct  picture  of  the  neurotic  psyche. 
The  neurotic  predispositions  of  heightened  affectivity,  the 
exaggerated  aggressiveness,  the  hypersensibility,  and  the  direct, 
compensatory  character-peculiarities  require  a  liberation  from 
their  overtense  state  ;  as  do  also  the  inclinations  to  neurotic 
perversions  which  are  often  constructed  at  a  very  early  age,  and 
which  are  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  general  fear  of  decisions 
through  a  compromise  formation.  For  this  reason  the  effort 
should  be  made  to  conquer  this  feeling  of  inferiority  and  the 
tendency  to  disparage  which  results  therefrom,  these  two 
important  poles  of  every  neurotic  state,  by  means  of  insight  and 
contemplation  on  the  part  of  the  patient,  for  they  like  their 
sexual  analogies  (sadism,  masochism,  fetichism,  homosexuality, 
incest-phantasies,  apparent  heightening  or  weakening  of  the 
sexual  impulse),  already  form  the  foundation  of  the  neurosis. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE  ANTITHESIS  ABOVE-BENEATH,  CHOICE  OF  A  PROFESSION, 
SOMNAMBULISM,  ANTITHESIS  IN  THOUGHT,  ELEVATION  OF 
THE  PERSONALITY  THROUGH  THE  DISPARAGEMENT  OF 
OTHERS,  JEALOUSY,  NEUROTIC  AUXILIARIES,  AUTHOR- 
ITATIVE, THINKING  IN  ANTITHESES  AND  THE  MASCULINE  PRO- 
TEST, DILATORY  ATTITUDE  AND  MARRIAGE,  THE  TENDENCY 
UPWARD  AS  A  SYMBOL  OF  LIFE,  COMPULSION  TO  MASTUR- 
BATION, THE  NEUROTIC  STRIVING  FOR  KNOWLEDGE 

THE  abstraction  of  the  concept,  "above-beneath,"  obviously 
plays  an  extremely  important  role  in  the  civilization  of  mankind, 
and  is  probably  even  connected  with  the  beginning  of  the  upright 
carriage  of  human  beings.  As  every  child  repeats  this  process  in 
the  course  of  his  development  when  he  arises  from  the  floor  and 
as  training  also  teaches  him  a  disgust  for  clinging  to  the  floor 
and  creeping  on  it  from  hygienic  reasons,  for  being  "down"  ; 
this  higher  development  in  childhood  may  contribute  not  a  little 
to  the  tendency  to  value  "up"  more  highly;  a  certain  proof  is 
to  be  found  in  the  conduct  of  small  children  who  throw  themselves 
on  the  floor  angrily  and  thus  try  to  make  themselves  dirty  in 
order  to  attract  the  attention  of  their  parents,  but  betray  thereby 
that  the  idea  of  "  being  down  "  as  a  fiction  of  what  is  forbidden, 
dirty,  sinful,  is  developing  in  them.  In  this  psychic  gesture  of 
small  children  may  also  be  detected  the  model  for  strongly 
developed  later  neurotic  traits. 

Further  notions  may  be  gathered  from  the  impressions  of 
heavenly  bodies,  as  may  be  seen  from  a  psychological  under- 
standing of  the  various  religions  and  of  civilization.  The 
aboriginal  races,  like  the  child,  regarded  the  sun,  the  day,  joy, 
elevation,  being  "  up,"  as  resembling  each  other  and  frequently 
associated  "  being  down  "  with  sin,  death,  dirt,  sickness  and 
night. 

The  antithesis  of  "  up-down  "  is  not  less  distinct  than  in 
ancient  religions.  From  a  work  by  K.  Th.  Preuss  on  "  Die 
Feuergotter  als  Ausgangspunkt  zum  Verstandniss  der 
Mexicanischen  Religion,"  Mitteilungen  der  Anthropologischen 
Gesellschaft  in  Wien,  1903,  we  are  able  to  infer  the  deeply 
rooted  character  of  this  antithesis  and  the  association  of  "  up- 
down."  The  fire  god  is  also  the  god  of  the  dead  who  live  with 
him  at  the  place  of  descent. 

Overturned  vessels,  people  who  fell,  were  regarded  as 

1 60 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  161 

presentations  of  "  up-downs,"  that  is  to  say  of  falling  into  the 
realm  of  the  dead,  and  thoughts  of  preservation  and  destructive 
activities  were  given  this  form  of  spatial  antithesis.' 

Further,  sensations  and  impressions  from  childhood  tend  to 
give  form  to  the  spatial  notion  of  "  up-down  "  and  to  define 
the  contrast  more  sharply.  Falling,  tailing  down,  is  painful, 
blamable,  dishonorable,  at  times,  punishable.  Not  rarely  it  is 
the  result  of  inattention,  lack  of  foresight,  and  the  child  ma^ 
therefore  assume  these  sensory  traces  as  an  admonition,  so  that 
being  "down"  may  be  felt  as  a  forceful  expression  for  "  fallen," 
for  inattention,  for  unskillfulness,  for  defeat,  not  without  releasing 
or  at  least  stimulating  the  protest  which  is  directed  against  the 
approaching  feeling  of  inferiority.  In  this  category  ot  "  down- 
up,"  one  of  which  cannot  be  thought  of  without  the  other,  is 
further  found  intermingled  trains  of  thought  (in  both  neurotics 
and  normal  persons),  which  express  the  antitheses  of  conquest 
and  defeat,  of  triumph  and  inferiority.  In  individual  cases,  upon 
analysis,  memory  traces  emerge  of  riding,  swimming,  flying, 
mountain  climbing,  climbing  up  and  of  climbing  staircases,  the 
antitheses  of  which  reveal  themselves  as  carrying  a  rider,  incubus, 
sinking  in  water,  falling  down,  tumbling  down,  a  check  in  an 
upward  or  forward  movement.  The  more  abstract  and  figurative 
the  memory  is  in  dreams,  in  hallucinations,  in  separate  neurotic 
symptoms,  the  more  perceptible  are  the  transitions  which  show  a 
sexual  factor.  In  this  connection  the  masculine  principle  is  only 
represented  by  the  feeling  of  greater  power,  as  being  "  up," 
and  the  feminine  by  the  feeling  of  being  "  down."  It  is  easy 
to  see  that  scuffling  and  its  results  support  this  valuation. 

In  the  games  of  children  which  are  preparatory  for  the  conflicts 
of  life  (Karl  Groos)  this  striving  "  upwards"  is  regularly  found. 
Also  in  the  thoughts  of  children  concerning  a  vocation.  In  the 
progress  of  the  psychic  development  reality  is  seen  working  as 
a  brake,  so  that  the  abstraction  "  upwards  "  has  a  tendency  to 
assume  a  concrete  form  in  some.  Very  often  in  this  connection 
caution  in  the  form  of  fear  of  being  in  elevated  positions  is  at 
work  and  changes  the  wish  to  be  a  roof  maker  into  that  of  being 
a  master  builder,  makes  of  the  aviator  a  builder  of  flying 
machines,  changes  the  wish  of  the  little  girl  to  be  like  her  father 
into  the  more  attainable  wish  of  being  able  to  command  like  her 
mother. 

The  striving  for  security  and  the  masculine  protest  make  the 
greatest  possible  use  of  the  resulting  guiding  lines  of  the  "  will 
to  be  up."  Under  the  pressure  of  the  fiction  the  neurotic  is 
sometimes  forced  to  decisions,  to  conflict  and  strife,  to  passionate 
haste,  sometimes  to  cautious,  hesitating,  doubting  behavior. 
Thus  he  is  placed  in  a  position  to  make  an  estimate  of  his  worth  in 

1  I  am  especially  indebted  to  Prof.  Dr.  S.  Oppenbeim  for  some  important 
historical   data   for  my  work. 


162  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

life  and  that  through  instances  which  escape  the  notice  of  others. 
He  must  scent  out,  hold  fast,  exaggerate  or  arrange  situations 
which  seem  to  us  of  very  little  value.  Let  us  follow  this  conduct 
in  detail. 

A  girl,  25  years  old,  came  to  us  with  complaints  of  frequent 
headache,  emotional  attacks,  disinclination  for  life  and  work. 
Traces  of  rickets  were  perceptible.  The  history  of  childhood 
revealed  an  extreme  feeling  of  inferiority  which  was  kept  at  a 
strained  tension  because  of  the  mother's  preference  for  a 
younger  brother  and  because  of  his  intellectual  superiority.  The 
most  cherished  wish  of  this  patient  had  always  been  to  be  big, 
very  wise,  and  a  man.  She  took  the  preparatory  attitudes  for 
the  attainment  of  this  masculine  ego-consciousness  as  far  as  was 
possible  from  her  father.  When  this  was  not  possible  for  her, 
a  small,  stupid  girl,  she  had  secured  the  imaginary  ego- 
consciousness  through  emotional  expedients  of  rage  and  anger 
against  her  relatives  and  especially  in  obstinacy  toward  her 
mother,  in  the  simulation  of  stupidity,  of  awkwardness  and  sick- 
ness, and  finally  in  the  arrangement  of  laziness.  I  omit  here  the 
lines  constructed  by  her  of  manliness,  of  malice,  of  obstinacy, 
and  refrain  also  from  analyzing  her  overweening  ambition,  her 
inclination  to  lying  and  ostentation,  and  will  content  myself  with 
showing  how  all  these  habits  are  combined  in  the  impulse  to  be 
"up"  and  serve  the  tendency  to  depreciate  others.  For  this 
purpose  I  will  refer  to  one  of  her  dreams,  which  contains  a 
modest  reference  to  the  psychology  of  somnambulism.  The 
dream  is  as  follows  : 

"  /  became  a  sleepwalker  and  climbed  on  to  the  head  of 
everybody." 

The  patient  had  heard  sleepwalkers  spoken  of  a  few  days 
previous  to  this  dream.  In  her  attempt  at  explanation  of  this 
dream  a  series  of  ambitious  thoughts  emerged  which  takes  the 
form  among  others  of  a  sexual  picture  of  domination  over  her 
future  husband.  She  remembered  dreams  of  earlier  times  which 
represented  her  as  riding  on  a  man,  on  a  horse.*  I  have  never 
treated  a  real  sleepwalker,  but  one  finds  this  neurotic  symptom 
sometimes  indicated  in  onsets.  It  is  manifested  as  is  the  dream 
of  flying,  of  climbing  stairs,  etc.,  as  a  dynamic  expression  of  the 
"  will  to  be  up  "  in  the  sense  of  the  manly  aggression.  In  a 
patient  who  showed  strong  masochistic  traits,  I  once  discovered 
strenuous  attempts  to  reach  the  ceiling  of  the  room  by  putting 
his  legs  out  on  the  wall  during  the  night.  The  interpretation 
showed  that  the  patient  rescued  himself  from  a  real  or  an 
imagined  situation  which  was  regarded  as  feminine  by  turning 

3  Women  riding  on  a  man  one  frequently  finds  as  the  subject  of  paintings. 
I  wish  to  call  attention  to  Burgkmair,  Hans  Baldung,  Grien,  Diirer,  and  to 
tell  of  the  many  prints  which  show  Alexander's  paramours  riding  on  Aristotle. 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  163 

around  to  the  masculine  protest  and  at  the  same  time  gave 
expression  to  this  symbolic  modus  dicendi  through  his  striving 
upwards. 

The  second  thought  of  the  dream,  "  I  climbed  on  to  the  heads 
of  everybody,"  reveals  the  same  meaning.  The  patient  makes 
use  here  of  a  form  of  speech  to  express  that  she  is  superior  to 
all  others.  Her  striving  upwards  is  only  to  be  understood 
dialectically  in  an  antithesis,  for  the  thoughts  of  insecure 
neurotics  generally  move  in  strongly  antithetical  directions,  in 
an  "  either-or, "  in  an  abstraction  understood  according  to  the 
scheme  of  the  opposites,  masculine-feminine.  The  innumerable 
middle  ways  are  not  chosen  because  the  two  neurotic  poles,  the 
feeling  of  inferiority  on  the  one  hand  and  the  overtense  ego- 
consciousness  on  the  other  only  permit  the  antithetical  values  to 
reach  consciousness.3 

The  train  of  thought  of  this  dream  permits  us  to  divine  the 
neurotic  predispositions  of  the  patient.  In  reality  her  masculine 
protest,  her  inclination  to  belittle  others,  her  ambition,  her 
sensitiveness,  defiance,  unyieldingness,  obstinacy,  is  sufficiently 
remarkable.  The  psychic  significance  of  her  headache  is 
revealed  in  this  dream.  Previous  analysis  showed  in  fact  that 
the  symptom  always  made  its  appearance  when  there  was  a 
feeling  of  defeat,  of  belittlement,  of  emasculation — to  speak  in 
the  words  of  the  dream,  when  one  "  mounted  her  head."  In  the 
phases  of  the  headache,  therefore,  through  the  construction  of 
these  "  expedients  of  pain  "  with  consequent  hallucinations  of 
pain  she  strove  to  dominate  all  persons,  especially  her  mother, 
and  was  able  to  enhance  her  ego-consciousness  thereby  in  the 
same  manner  as  she  was  able  to  do  it  through  defiance,  laziness, 
and  obstinacy,  only  to  a  greater  degree,  in  short,  had  thus 
mounted  on  the  heads  of  others. 

In  children  the  tendency  to  be  up  is  unmistakable  and  coincides 
with  the  wish  to  be  big.  They  wish  to  be  lifted  up  and  like  to 
climb  on  sofas,  tables,  boxes,  and  usually  connect  with  this 
striving  the  idea  of  showing  themselves  unconquerably 
courageous,  manly.  How  closely  bordering  on  this  is  the 
tendency  to  depreciate  others  is  shown  by  their  joy  when  they 
succeed  in  being  "bigger"  than  grown  people.  The  heightening 
of  the  aggressive  tendency  is  manifested  in  children  who  show 
neurotic  symptoms  at  an  early  age  by  this  exhibition.  Thus  it 
sometimes  happens  that  children  in  the  consulting  room  of  the 

That  tho  tentative,  insecurely  begun,  beginnings  in  philosophy  have 
likewise  hypotasized  this  antithetical  mode  of  thinking  we  have  already 
emphasized. 

Karl  Joel  speaks  of  this  problem  in  the  "  Geechichte  der  Zahlprinzipien 
in  der  griechischen  Philosophic  "  (Zeitechr.  f.  Philosophic  und  philoe.  Kritik. 
Bd.  97).  and  states  in  this  study,  "  The  real  root  of  '  antithesis  '  lies  in  the 
instinctive,  peculiar  fixity  of  thought  which  only  recognizes  absolutes." 


164  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

physician  constantly  climb  on  tables  and  benches  and  thus  reveal 
their  contempt. 

The  danger  of  falling,  of  accidents  in  striving  upwards  as  well 
as  the  customary  training  to  cowardice,  force  the  majority  of 
children  to  a  change  of  form  of  the  guiding  line,  or  to  neurotic, 
circuitous  ways,  whereby  the  fear  of  elevated  positions  and 
heights  opposes  itself  as  an  admonition  usually  in  a  symbolical 
form  to  undertakings  and  ventures  of  all  sorts,  and  thus  becomes 
the  foundation  of  a  predisposition  which  has  the  appearance  of 
a  neurotic  check  on  aggression.  At  times  the  desire  to  be  up 
is  transposed  for  the  most  part  to  a  tendency  to  depreciate 
others.  The  tendency  of  those  suffering  from  dementia  praecox 
to  change  the  furniture  stands  regularly  in  such  close  connection 
with  the  depreciation  of  the  surroundings  that  the  suspicion  is 
justified,  that  this  is  one  of  the  fictitious,  abstract,  circuitous 
ways  by  which  the  psychotic  enhances  his  ego-consciousness. 
In  a  transferred  form  this  placing  of  others  in  an  inferior 
position  is  expressed  in  the  tendency  to  calumny,  especially, 
however,  in  neurotic  jealousy  and  delirium  of  jealousy.  I 
discovered  further  an  interesting  sort  of  derogation  in  nervous 
subjects  in  their  care,  their  anxious  behavior,  in  their  fears  for 
the  fate  of  other  people.  They  act  as  if  others  were  incapable 
of  caring  for  themselves  without  their  help.  They  are  constantly 
giving  advice,  wish  to  do  everything  themselves,  are  always 
finding  new  dangers  and  are  never  contented  until  others  confide 
themselves  entirely  to  their  care.  Neurotic  parents  are  thus  the 
cause  of  much  harm,  and  in  love  and  marriage  much  friction  is 
caused  in  .this  manner.  One  of  my  patients,  who  was  run  over 
twice  in  his  childhood,  associated  his  feeling  of  injured  personality 
with  this  memory  and  whenever  he  crossed  the  street  with 
another  person  he  led  that  person  anxiously  over  by  the  arm  as 
though  without  his  help,  his  companion  could  not  have  crossed. 
Many  persons  are  filled  with  fears  when  their  relatives  travel 
by  rail,  go  swimming  or  canoeing,  give  their  nurses  constant 
instructions  and  continue  their  tendency  to  depreciation  in 
•exaggerated  criticisms  and  corrections.  In  schools  and  in  offices 
this  nagging  depreciation  is  always  found  in  neurotic  teachers 
and  superiors.  In  the  practice  of  psychotherapy  it  is  one  of  the 
main  requirements  to  obviate  predispositions  of  this  sort,  even 
when  the  patient  provokes  them.  This  requirement  often 
amounts  to  a  renunciation  of  authority.  Every  one  who  has 
become  acquainted  with  the  hypersensitiveness  of  neurotic 
subjects  knows  with  what  slight  cause  they  feel  themselves  to  be 
undervalued.  One  of  my  patients  who  suffered  from  hystero- 
epilepsy  and  always  conducted  himself  as  if  he  wished  to  place 
himself  in  an  entirely  subordinate  position  fell  on  one  occasion 
unconscious  before  my  door.  In  such  "accidents"  the  tendency 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  165 

to  undervaluation  is  clearly  recognizable.  While  still  in  a 
confused  condition  he  addressed  me  as  "  Teacher,"  and 
stammered  that  he  would  bring  a  note.  After  the  attack  he  told 
me  that  he  had  come  unwillingly  on  that  occasion.  The  analysis 
showed  that  he  had  come  to  regard  me  as  a  teacher  in  order 
to  obtain  the  distance  necessary  for  the  conflict,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  act  as  though  he  were  obliged  to  come  to  the  school 
and  to  bring  a  written  excuse  for  his  absence.  After  he  had 
placed  himself  as  far  as  his  feelings  were  concerned  in  this 
situation  of  inferiority  he  could  allow  the  compensatory 
expedients  derived  therefrom  to  come  into  play  in  order  to  belittle 
me. 

A  girl  20  years  old  suffered  from  the  compulsory  idea  that 
she  could  not  ride  in  a  street-car  because  when  she  got  in  the 
thought  always  emerged  that  a  man  might  get  out  at  the  same 
time  and  fall  under  the  wheels.  Analysis  showed  that  this 
compulsory  neurosis  represented  the  masculine  protest  of  the 
patient  in  the  figure  of  being  "  above  "  corresponding  with  which 
the  man  must  be  "  under,"  deprived  of  value,  and  should  bear 
the  injuries  which  he  imposes  on  women,  ki  addition  the 
exaggerated  striving  for  security  constructed  the  protection  of 
anxiety  which  was  intended  to  satisfy  further  the  fear  of  the 
male.  Even  then  when  her  superiority  was  assured  she  could 
not  bring  herself  to  decide  on  marriage,  for  her  future  husband 
would  have  a  hard  time  with  her — from  this  point  of  view  one 
is  able  to  understand  the  often  incomprehensible  striving  of  many 
neurotic  girls  and  women  to  exact  from  their  partners  the 
greatest  sacrifices  and  put  them  to  the  most  severe  tests,  in  so 
far  as  they  hope  to  attain  thereby  an  enhancement  of  their  ego- 
consciousness  to  the  point  of  an  appearance  of  manliness. 

Thinking  in  crude  antitheses  is  therefore  in  itself  a  sign  of 
uncertainty  and  adheres  to  the  sole  genuine  antithesis,  that 
between  male*  and  female.  In  this  a  judgment  of  worth  is 
already  given,  which  infuses  itself  unnoticed  in  every  "antithesis" 
(Joel)  because  this  antithesis  is  always  made  in  the  figure  of  a 
dissection  of  the  hermaphroditic  form  into  a  male  and  female 
half.  Plato  has  perhaps  expressed  this  idea  most  purely.  And 
human  perception  was  unable  until  the  time  of  Kant  to 
disentangle  itself  from  this  self-made  fiction.  But  the 
neurotically  disposed  child  adheres  to  the  oppositeness  of  the 
sexes  and  to  the  higher  valuation  of  the  male  principle  therewith 
connected  in  order  to  escape  from  uncertainty  and  in  order  to 
find  a  guiding  line  for  his  idea  of  egoistic  worth.  Thus  it 
happens  that  this  guiding  fiction  contains  a  manly  aspect,  and 
that  in  all  the  experiences  and  strivings  of  neurotic  individuals 
the  masculine  protest  is  revealed  as  the  ordering  principle  and 
motive  force.  The  antithesis  of  the  sexes  is  admirably  expressed 
in  the  above  given  symbol  of  the  spatial  opposites  of  "up-down." 


1 66 

And  thus  it  becomes  comprehensible  that  in  every  one  of  our 
psychological  analyses  this  expression  of  a  sharp  antithetical 
schema  must  somehow  or  other  come  to  light.  It  is  still  an  open 
question  whether  reinforcements  of  the  antithesis  have  been 
acquired  from  the  events  of  early  childhood  and  the  resulting 
impressions,  from  the  observations  of  sexual  relations  in  human 
beings  and  animals,  or  whether  the  consciousness  of  the  higher 
position  of  the  male  has  been  fixed  by  the  normal  situations  of 
sexual  relations. 

The  "  will  to  be  above  "  of  the  neurotic  woman  is  produced 
by  her  manly  guiding  idea  and  represents  an  attempt  to  identify 
herself  with  the  man.  The  importunity  and  rigidity  with  which 
this  takes  place  even  in  neurotic,  circuitous  ways  testifies  to  the 
original  uncertainty  and  fear  of  being  "  below,"  undervalued, 
female.  Thus  the  transcendental  egoistic  idea  attains  its 
powerful  dominancy  because  it  promises  compensation,  the 
overcoming  of  the  feeling  of  inferiority,  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Every  gesture  then  says,  "  1  will  be  above,  I  will  be  a  man 
because  I  am  afraid  as  a  woman  of  being  oppressed  and 
misused."  Ambition  and  envy  are  hereby  strengthened  and  an 
unusually  lively  mistrust  is  awakened  against  every  possibility  of 
belittlement.  Where  there  is  real  undervaluation,  however,  the 
masculine  protest  flashes  forth  and  leads  from  slight  and  often 
from  no  cause  to  the  well  known,  unpleasant  frictions  of  the 
neurotic  individual  with  his  environment,  in  which  the  principle 
weapons  of  attack  used  to  confirm  the  feeling  of  power  are 
disputatiousness,  love  for  justice,  obstinate  adherence  to  opinion 
and  trust  in  penetration.  And  in  this  connection  the  tendency 
to  "  look  beneath  "  will  never  be  absent,  especially  in  times 
of  uncertainty,  the  acute  perception  of  affronts,  neglects,  under- 
valuations, and  further  than  this  arrangements  of  depression, 
anxiety,  remorse,  feeling  of  guilt  and  pangs  of  conscience. 
Stronger  measures  for  security  are  applied  and  new  neurotic 
symptoms  and  deviations  are  constructed,  the  neurotic  traits  of 
character  become  more  deeply  seated  and  more  abstract  and 
the  fully  developed  picture  of  the  neurosis  arises.4  Thus  the 
4  While  writing  this  book  I  discovered  in  Alfred  v.  Berger's  "  Hofrat 
Eysenhardt "  an  excellent  example  of  the  type  just  described  in  whom  the 
striving  to  be  above  was  especially  well  marked  and  whose  lectures  I  would 
recommend  to  every  psychotherapeutist.  One  will  find  in  this  description  a 
repetition  of  all  we  have  said  concerning  this  type  of  individual  from  a  poet's 
standpoint.  The  all  too  powerful  elan  of  the  father,  the  feeling  of  inferiority 
of  the  boy  along  with  the  compensatory  masculine  protest.  The  accentuation 
of  sexual  desire,  of  the  will  to  power,  the  preparation  for  the  patricide, 
fetichism,  contentious  tendency,  the  exaggerated  assurance  in  the  case  of 
threatening  defeat.  The  construction  of  remorse,  self-reproach,  hallucinations, 
and  compulsory  ideas  as  a  revengeful  annihilation  of  the  authority  of  the 
State.  The  loss  of  a  tooth  and  the  exaggerated  fear  of  woman  as  the  result 
of  a  further  accentuated  masculine  protest,  and  along  with  this  the  repeated 
arrangement  of  an  exaggerated  sexual  desire,  all  of  which  is  very  impressive 
and  obvious,  a  description  of  the  neurotic  subterfuge  which  reminds  one  of 
Dostoyeff sky's  descriptions  and  which  requires  no  further  elucidation. 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  167 

revolt  for  attaining  a  heightened  ego-consciousness  is  fairly 
contrived,  the  introduction  thereof  is  formed  by  the  disease  itself 
and  by  the  predispositions  to  disease  which  in  some  way  or 
other  are  made  use  of  as  means  for  attaining  power  in  the 
environment. 

A  patient,  21  years  old,  came  under  treatment  because  of 
extreme  depression,  loss  of  sleep  and  compulsory  thoughts.  It 
was  ascertained  that  she  had  always  had  neurotic  traits  of 
character.  The  compulsory  neurosis  broke  out  as  her  relations 
with  a  man  whom  she  wanted  to  marry  became  serious.  The 
typical  pathogenic  situation  brings  the  neurotic  "no"  to  light, 
and  while  the  patient  was  making  her  preparations  for  marriage, 
and  did  not  hesitate  with  the  affirmative  answer,  she  arranged 
for  the  neurosis  and  conducted  herself  as  if  she  did  not  wish  to 
marry.  In  all  these  very  numerous  cases  the  next  step  ?s  a 
condition  which  therefore  takes  the  form,  "  If  I  were  well,  if 
I  should  overcome  my  present  condition,"  etc.  (in  men,  often  : 
"HI  were  potent  "),  "I  would  marry."  By  this  condition, 
which  is  equivalent  to  a  vacillation,  a  doubt,  to  a  special  attitude 
of  caution,  the  patient  escapes  all  responsibility,  has  drawn  the 
bolt  in  secret  until  something  further  happens,  but  may  act  as 
if  he  wishes  to  open  the  door.  The  traits  of  mistrust,  of 
disputatiousness,  of  tyranny,  and  of  wishing  to  be  "above"  are 
clearly  revealed  in  the  analysis,  and  one  can  easily  comprehend 
that  the  fear  of  not  being  equal  to  the  partner,  the  menace  of 
feeling  another  superior  in  love  or  marriage  necessitates  the 
secret  retreat  and  constructs  the  neurotic  symptom.  Not  rarely 
one  finds  a  purposeful  valuation  of  the  person's  own  sexuality 
from  which  without  proof  or  with  the  assistance  of  memories 
which  everyone  has  at  command,  or  by  evoking  unconscious 
falsifications  the  impression  is  sought  that  it  is  too  little  or  too 
great  to  permit  a  marriage  to  be  ventured  on. 

The  further  communication  of  the  patient  explained  that  she 
could  undertake  nothing  because  whenever  she  began  anything 
the  thought  emerged  that  it  was  useless  because  every  one  must 
die.  As  one  sees,  a  nonsensical  thought,  which  at  the  same  time 
has  sense,  but  above  all  brings  time  and  development  to  a  stand- 
still and  renders  the  entrance  of  the  patient  upon  marriage 
impossible.  In  accordance  with  this  the  conviction  that  the 
patient  only  came  to  the  physician  because  she  was  forced  to, 
that  she  had  no  hope  of  cure  and  only  desired  proof  of  her 
incurability  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  One  of  her  dreams 
showed  much  of  this  constellation.  It  was  as  follows  : 

"  A  physician  came  to  me,  who  said  I  should  jump  and  sing 
when  thoughts  of  death  came  to  me,  then  the  thoughts  would 
vanish.  Then  a  child  (hesitatingly),  a  large  one  was  brought. 
It  was  given  medicine  so  that  it  should  become  quiet  and  sleep." 


1 68  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

The  physician  in  the  dream  had  once  treated  her  as  a  child 
when  she  had  scarlet  fever.  In  the  dream  he  uses  the  words 
which  she  during  her  present  illness  had  constantly  heard  from 
her  relatives  and  from  physicians.  He  gives  her  advice  of  a  kind 
which  amounts  to  nothing.  These  thoughts  are  aimed  at  me  and 
express  the  conviction  that  all  my  measures  will  be  useless.  Of 
course  this  dream  was  dreamed  during  a  night  when  she  slept — 
for  the  first  time  after  a  period  of  insomnia.  As  the  patient, 
however,  saw  in  this  fact  a  partial  success  of  the  treatment  she 
realized  with  strong  aggression  my  measures  too  were  useless. 
The  hesitation  in  emphasizing  the  "largeness"  of  the  child  shows 
on  what  the  thoughts  of  the  dreamer  are  dwelling,  on  a  small, 
a  newborn  child.  The  expression,  "a  child  is  brought"  (supply  : 
into  the  world),  is  taken  from  the  idea  of  giving  birth  and 
coincides  with  this  in  the  outlined  representation  of  the  dream. 
The  powder  which  is  given  to  the  child  is  the  sleeping  powder 
of  the  patient  in  a  former  treatment,  an  indication  that  pains 
also  belong  to  the  patient,  to  giving  birth.  In  other  words  the 
patient  here  expresses  :  I  cannot  sleep  because  I  think  of  giving 
birth  with  its  pains.  Giving  birth,  pains,  dying,  in  these  she 
sees  her  fate  and  hence  she  thinks  of  dying  in  order  to  avoid 
giving  birth. 

The  exaggerated  security  against  childbirth  is  a  change  of 
form  and  intensity  of  her  masculine  protest.  In  order  to  secure 
herself  against  the  feminine  role  she  enters  upon  the  neurotic 
deviation,  fixes  her  thought  upon  an  anticipatory  tendency  on 
childbirth  and  death  as  admonitions  and  prefers  to  become  a 
child,  to  take  a  powder  rather  than  to  be  cured  psycho- 
therapeutically.  Because  her  cure  signifies  her  fitting  herself 
into  the  feminine  role.  Now  the  conflict  is  turned  more  acutely 
against  the  physician  who  wishes  to  cure  her  insomnia.  She 
must  remain  superior  to  him,  must  permit  him  to  talk  absurdities, 
and  dictate  to  him,  that  he  should  treat  her  with  medicines  as 
she  had  been  treated  when  a  child.  The  compulsory  neurosis 
represents  her  reassuring  philosophy  of  the  vanity  of  everything 
under  the  sun. 

In  our  sort  of  neuropsychology  one  always  gains  the  impression 
that  the  visible  neurotic  conduct  is  directed  straight  to  the  final 
purpose,  to  the  fictitious  goal,  as  if  one  were  examining  one  of 
the  intermediary  pictures  in  a  cinematographic  film.  The 
problem  consists  in  recognizing  this  conduct,  that  is,  the 
symptoms,  predispositions,  and  traits  of  character,  and  to  learn 
to  comprehend  their  object.  In  every  neurotic  attitude  the 
beginning  and  final  purpose  is  concealed  in  its  significance.* 

5  Bergson  justly  emphasizes  the  same  thing  for  every  move  of  life.  One 
who  possesses  sufficient  insight  and  experience  is  able  to  see,  in  every  psychic 
phenomenon  the  past,  present,  and  future,  but  aleo  the  desired  finale.  Thus 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  169 

These  facts  form  the  foundation  of  every  individualistic  psycho- 
logical method  and  coincide  with  our  other  findings.    Therefore 
in  the  analysis  of  a  symptom    or    of  a    dream    the    feeling    of 
effeminacy,  of  inferiority,  of  being  "  down,"  and  the  masculine 
protest,  the  fictitious  manly  goal,  the  feeling  of  being  "  above," 
will  always  be  found  indicated,    in    the    form    of    an    upwardly 
directed  psychic  attitude,  in  a  hermaphroditic  picture  which  is 
apperceived  in  a    strongly    antithetical    manner,    in    neurotic, 
circuitous  ways,  which  as  such  characterize  the  tendency  to  meet 
obstacles  with  expedients,  or  when  analyzed  reveal  at  one  time 
the  tendency  upwards,  at  another  the  tendency  downwards  in  the 
alterations     and     vacillations     of     the     psychic     phenomena. 
Frequently  this  "  will  to  be  up  "  is  expressed    in    a    strongly 
figurative  manner,  especially  in  dreams,  but  also  in  symptoms, 
and  takes  the  symbolic  form  of  a  race,  of  soaring,  of  climbing 
mountains,   of  emerging  from  water,  etc.,    while  the  "down" 
is  represented  by  falling,  in  short  by  a  motion  downwards.  Just 
as    frequently    the    figure    or    the    fact    of   the    sexual    act    is 
symbolically  employed  for  the  same  expression.        I  will  here 
give  an  account  of  the  dreams  of  a  patient  who  had  fears  for 
his  future  as  a  man  on  account  of  his  weakness  and  noticeably 
effeminate  conduct.    In  a  dream  of  his  early  childhood  which  for 
a  long  time  filled  him  with  fears  he  saw  himself  pursued  by  a 
bull.    As  a  farmer's  son  he  understood  at  that  early  age  that  the 
male  pursuer    represented    a   race    for    a    cow,  that  is,  for  the 
patient  himself.     When  he  was  to  enter  school  he  directed  his 
steps  straight  to  the  girls'  school  and  had  to  be  taken  to  the 
boys'  school  by  force.  He  unconsciously  regarded  his  life  as  a 
race,   for  which  he  constantly  found  preparations.      When  he 
was  courting  a  girl  his  friend  cut  him  out.     When  he  contem- 
plated marriage,  he  became  afraid  of  the  superiority  of  his  wife, 
fell  into  the  habit  of  compulsory    masturbation,    suffered    from 
frequent  pollutions,  and  fell  victim  to  a  tremor,  which  hindered 
his  work  and  advancement  in  office.     Naturally  he  set  up  the 
condition  that  he  would  only  marry  when    he    was    cured,    a 
thought  which  seemed    to    be    wise    and    justified,    but    which 
permitted  the  patient  to  operate  secretly  against  his  marriage 
as  behind  a  veil  because  he  feared  therefrom  a  reduction  of  his 
ego-consciousness.     The    tremor    represented    to  him  the  pre- 
monitions of  a  paralysis    which    he    feared   on    account    of    his 
excessive  masturbation.     After  he  had  secured  himself  in  this 
manner  he  still  felt  the  need  of  confirmation  of  his  incurability 
and  went  weeping  to  physicians.     Our  conversation  revealed  to 
me  the  picture  of  a  restless,  ambitious  individual  who  wished 

every  psychic  phenomenon  and  every  trait  of  character,  similarly  to  the 
inferior  somatic  organ,  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  symbol  of  life,  as  an  attempt 
at  an  ascendancy  of  the  masculine  protest. 

N 


170  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

constantly  to  detract  from  others,  but  who  recoiled  in  fear  from 
a  serious  decision.  Amorous  relations  were  also  with  him 
principally  a  means  of  assuring  himself  of  his  superior  manliness. 
No  matter  how  eagerly  he  courted  a  girl,  the  moment  she  met 
his  addresses,  she  lost  all  charm  for  him.  Besides  as  soon  as 
he  approached  an  engagement  he  entered  into  other  relations 
without  prospect,  or  gave  them  a  prospectless  form  and  thus  ran 
after  his  rejections  in  order  to  be  able  through  the  feeling  of 
his  lack  of  influence  even  vis-a-vis  his  future  bride,  to  be  able 
to  regard  himself  as  inferior.  From  this  he  constantly  regained 
the  impulse  to  work  secretly  against  the  apparently  desired 
marriage.  One  of  his  dreams  is  as  follows  : 

"I  was  with  my  old  friend  and  was  speaking  with  him  about 
a,  mutual  friend.  He  said,  '  Of  what  use  is  his  money  to  him,  he 
has  learned  nothing?  ' 

The  old  friend,  who  had  cut  our  patient  out  in  the  courtship 
of  a  girl,  had  failed  in  the  Technical  school  and  had  given  up 
study.  The  patient  was  superior  to  him  for  he  had  finished  the 
course.  He  embraced  the  sublime  principle,  "  Knowledge  is 
more  than  money,"  especially  as  this  profession  served  his 
fiction  to  be  "above"  and  comforted  him.  The  mutual 
acquaintance  is  placed  here  instead  of  the  rich  girl  who  was 
courted  by  both.  The  contest  begins  anew.  Our  patient  is 
declared  victor  by  his  rival. 

A  second  dream  which  occurred  the  same  night  makes  this 
clearer.  The  patient  dreamed  : 

"As  if  I  had  caused  the  fall  of  a  girl  of  lower  standing  and 
had  dishonored  her." 

The  fiction  of  this  dream  says  a  shade  more  clearly  that  he  is 
above."     The  girl  who  was  formerly  courted  is  thus  in  the 
sense  of  the  patient  brought  down,  made  poor,  and  recognizes 
him  as  her  master. 

I  will  here  briefly  mention  that  the  occurrence  of  several 
dreams  in  a  night  signifies  that  various  attempts  at  preliminary 
arrangements  of  tentative  solutions  of  a  problem  are  undertaken. 
It  becomes  regularly  apparent  that  a  single  way  is  not  sufficient 
for  the  guiding,  egoistic  idea  of  caution,  a  fact  which  is  easily 
comprehended  in  the  case  of  neurotics.  The  dream  then,  under 
the  influence  of  the  more  intensive  craving  for  security  becomes 
more  abstract,  more  figurative,  and  one  thus  obtains  in  inter- 
preting all  the  dreams  of  a  night  several  psychic  attitudes,  from 
the  comparison  of  which  the  dynamic  of  the  neurosis  becomes 
much  clearer.  In  the  above  cited  case  the  rival  surrenders  and 
the  wealth  of  the  girl — her  power — is  deprived  of  worth  for 
him.  The  second  dream  deprives  the  girl  also  of  power  and 
places  her  in  the  position  a  woman  that  is  "under"  occupies, 
and  this  is  done  in  the  most  far-fetched  and  abstract  manner, 


ANTITHETICAL  MODE  OF  THINKING  171 

so  that  nothing  personal  is  left  to  th.e  girl  under  consideration 
except  her  subordinate  position.  The  patient  also  expresses 
the  thought  that  only  an  uneducated  girl  from  the  country 
will  serve  his  purpose,  as  he  can  always  remain  her  master.  The 

firl  whom  he  wishes  to  make  his  wife  frightens  him  because  of 
er  intelligence.6  This  is  the  tendency  of  many  neurotics,  which 
causes  them  always  to  choose  below  their  social  level,  and  thus 
thoughts  and  facts  come  to  pass  such  as  choosing  a  prostitute 
or  a  little  girl  for  love  and  marriage,  necrophilic  tenc  encies,  etc. 
In  all  similar  cases  the  tendency  to  detract  from  the  partner  is 
perceptible,  which  seeks  to  degrade  the  wife  by  the  conjtruction 
of  mistrust,  jealousy,  tyranny,  ethical  principles  and  require- 
ments. 

A  further  idea  shown  in  a  dream  represents  a  race  graphically  : 

"  /  was  riding  in  a  railway  car  and  looked  out  of  the  window 
to  see  if  the  dog  was  still  running  with  the  train.  I  thought  that 
he  had  run  himself  to  death,  had  fallen  under  the  wheels.  I 
felt  sorry  for  him.  Then  the  idea  struck  me  that  I  had  another 
dog,  but  a  clumsy  one." 

He  had  often  ridden  bicycle  races  with  his  old  friend  and 
rival  and  was  usually  left  behind.  Now  as  his  friend  occupies 
a  position  socially  inferior  to  him,  his  friend  "  can  run  after 
him,"  as  one  says  in  Vienna  when  a  person  gives  himself  airs. 
The  metamorphosis  into  a  dog  is  a  product  of  the  tendency  to 
derogation  and  is  quite  frequently  met  with.  In  a  case  of 
dementia  precox  I  observed  that  the  patient  gave  all  dogs  the 
names  of  women  of  importance.  The  dog  also  represented  his 
future  bride  who  also  brought  his  superiority  into  question.  Her 
death,  moreover,  would  free  him  of  his  fear,  just  as  he  would 
also  be  free  if  she  should  listen  to  another  suitor,  as  his  suspicion 
often  whispered  to  him  was  the  case.  "  If  she  should  fall  under 
the  wheels."  "  If  this  should  occur,  it  would  cause  him  sorrow." 
In  the  dream  he  regards  this  as  having  already  happened  and 
anticipates  his  sorrow.  The  "  clumsy  dog  "  is  a  girl  who  about 
this  time  had  disgusted  him  by  meeting  his  advances  and  for 
whom  he  no  longer  cared. 

His  dislike  for  those  above  him  is  boundless  and  deep-seated. 
One  night  he  dreamed  : 

"  Our  singing  society  gave  a  concert.  The  director's  place 
was  empty." 

The  society  to  which  he  belonged  was  on  one  occasion  obliged 
to  sing  without  a  director  because  the  latter  had  missed  the1 
train.  The  situation  appeared  to  him  better  than  any  other. 
"  We  need  no  director,"  he  thought.  This  is  his  usual  attitude 
in  all  situations  in  which  he  himself  is  not  the  director. 

*  Another  dream  of  the  same  night  may  have  dealt  with  the  violation  of 
a    Jtirl. 


172  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

The  impulse  to  masturbation  in  male  neurotics  corresponds  in 
female  neurotics  to  the  tendency  to  avoid  a  decision  and  thereby 
to  remain  "  up."  In  the  masturbation  phantasies  of  girls  the 
woman  is  often  found  to  take  the  role  of  a  man.  Also  the 
position  which  is  taken  therein  is  at  times  that  of  the  man.  In 
men  masturbation  serves,  first,  as  proof  that  one  can  live  alone, 
second,  as  a  protection  against  and  hindrance  to  sexual  relations 
which  on  account  of  the  superiority  of  the  wife  are  feared  and 
hence  arises  from  the  craving  for  security.  If  the  situation 
necessitates  stronger  securities,  impotence  or  the  developed 
neurosis  makes  its  appearance,  not  as  a  consequence  of 
renunciation  of  masturbation,  but  as  a  reenforced  security.  The 
masturbation  phantasies  in  neurotics  have  often  a  masochistic 
or  sadistic  feature,  according  to  the  phase  of  the  masculine 
protest  which  they  aim  to  represent. 

Among  the  preparatory  actions  and  neurotic  expedients  which 
are  intended  to  serve  to  secure  the  position  of  being  "  up," 
curiosity,  impulse  to  investigation,  the  desire  to  see  everything, 
the  "  voyeur  "  impulse  mentioned  by  writers  occupies  a 
prominent  place.  These  impulses  are  always  a  proof  of  a 
primary  uncertainty  for  the  compensation  of  which  the  guiding 
lines  of  investigation  are  brought  in.  They  serve  especially  in 
developed  neuroses  secondarily  the  purposes  of  dilatoriness  to 
avoid  a  plan  and  a  decision  and  are  in  life,  especially  in  the 
erotic,  very  often  changed  from  a  means  to  an  end  on  which  all 
the  psychic  activities  are  based.  Investigation,  the  search  for 
truth,  the  wish  to  understand  everything,  the  well  known  neurotic 
thoroughness,  these  are  then  the  traits  which  the  ego-conscious- 
ness erects  and  must  elevate  or  protect. 


CHAPTER    VII 

PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST,  HOMOSEXUALITY  AND 
PERVERSION  AS  A  SYMBOL,  MODESTY  AND  EXHIBITIONISM, 
CONSTANCY  AND  INCONSTANCY,  JEALOUSY 

A  phenomenon  often  noted  in  neurotics  is  their  attitude 
towards  the  question  of  punctuality.  In  accordance  with  our 
analysis  of  neurotic  pedantry  the  expectation  is  justified  that  a 
large  number  of  punctual  individuals  will  be  found  among 
neurotics.  This  is  in  fact  the  case.  But  it  is  easy  to  perceive 
that  these  patients  play  with  the  thought,  how  would  it  be  if  they 
should  let  others  wait,  a  train  of  thought  which  indicates  their 
opposition  to  others.  There  always  remains  in  this  attitude  of 
punctuality  so  much  of  aggression  that  these  patients  exact  the 
greatest  punctuality  from  everybody  without  exception  and  in 
consequence  are  often  in  a  position  to  put  their  expedients  and 
neurotic  preparedness  to  attacks  into  operation  at  the  tardiness 
of  others.  In  other  cases  it  is  found  that  pride  compels  them 
to  come  late  regularly,  and  when  others  are  obliged  to  wait  and 
a  flood  of  excuses  is  offered,  this  is  felt  as  an  enhancement  of 
the  ego-consciousness.  This  tardiness  is  well  fitted  to  form  a 
substitute  for  the  fear  of  decisions.  The  social  fitness  is  greatly 
menaced  and  professional  duties  as  well  as  relations  with  friends 
and  loved  ones  are  soon  eliminated.  Admonitions  are  entirely 
fruitless,  because  the  obstinate  attitude  is  only  confirmed  by 
them.  The  neurotic  is  able  to  master  the  situation  by  his  eternal 
tardiness  and  thus  place  before  his  relatives  an  insoluble  problem. 
The  choice  of  this  line  of  character  often  follows  in  conformity 
with  an  analogy  :  "  as  I  came  into  the  world  too  late  among 
my  brothers  and  sisters,"  "  because  I  did  not  arrive  later  like 
my  younger  brother  or  sister."  It  may  be  seen  from  this  how, 
by  this  neurotic  arrangement — the  feeling  of  inferiority  and  the 
order  of  birth  of  the  brothers  and  sisters — a  broad  and  permanent 
basis  of  operation  for  the  battle  for  superiority  is  gained 
Patients  who  always  come  too  early  show  also  at  other  times 
the  trait  of  impatience.  Through  a  feeling  of  inferiority  they 
are  constantly  in  fear  of  other  new  losses  and  reassure  themselves 
by  believing  in  their  "  unlucky  star."  In  cases  of  these 
neurotics,  too,  the  elder  brother  is  often  found  as  an  opponent 
with  whom  they  are  engaged,  as  it  were,  in  a  race,  an  analogical 
fiction,  but  by  no  manner  of  means  the  casual  factor  of  their 
conduct. 

'73 


174  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

Fictive  rights  of  primogeniture  become  often  for  younger 
children  the  impetus  for  the  enhancement  of  the  egoistic  idea, 
and  in  my  experience  second  and  later  children  show  greater 
tendency  to  neuroses  and  psychoses,  and  certainly  show  greater 
ambition.1  In  their  neurotic  conduct  the  figurative  analogy  of 
the  story  of  Jacob  and  Esau  comes  to  light,  proving  that  the 
wish  to  be  first  is  at  the  foundation  of  the  situation.  Their 
preparations  and  predispositions  will  always  have  as  object  to 
permit  no  one  to  have  merit,  to  transform  every  relation  by 
means  of  love  and  hate  so  that  their  superiority  shall  become 
apparent.  The  tendency  to  derogation  exceeds  all  bounds. 
The  individual  of  this  type  does  not  hesitate  at  harming  himself 
if  he  can  only  harm  others  at  the  same  time.  In  the  formal 
change  of  the  guiding  line  a  view  such  as  Csesar  took  is  often 
arrived  at,  "  Better  first  in  a  village  than  second  in  Rome," 
better  to  play  the  leading  role  with  the  mother  or  father  than 
to  draw  an  unknown  lottery  ticket  in  marriage,  etc.  Hatred  is 
frequently  felt  for  superiors,  teachers  and  physicians.  They  are 
usually  kill-joys  in  social  gatherings,  as  soon  as  their  superiority 
is  not  recognized,  and  they  often  break  off  every  relation  of 
friendship  and  love  after  a  short  time,  if  the  other  parties  to 
these  relationships  do  not  acknowledge  themselves  inferior.  Very 
often  their  conduct  is  brusque  and  inimical  from  the  start,  because 
they  are  already  at  strife  before  the  other  person  suspects  it. 
They  cannot  endure  to  have  any  one  stand  or  walk  before  them, 
and  avoid  every  school  examination,  because  the  superiority  of 
the  person  conducting  the  examination  is  unendurable  to  them. 
That  all  these  phenomena  may  finally  be  directed  against  the 
family  environment,  and  take  the  form  of  the  view  that  the 
family  must  care  for  the  patient  is  a  further  step  towards  the 
proof  of  the  significance  and  importance  of  the  egoistic  idea  for 
the  patient.  At  times  they  operate  with  their  neuroses  as  others 
carry  on  fortune  hunting. 

Frequently  the  wish  to  be  first,  with  the  wife,  is  hidden  in  the 
neurotic  efforts  of  a  male  patient  and  he  hunts  through  her 
previous  life  with  jealousy  and  suspicion  and  constantly  believes 
himself  deceived,  or  he  eagerly  keeps  watch  lest  his  wife  should 
prefer  another,  the  fear  of  the  wife  as  the  expression  of  the 
feeling  of  incomplete  manliness.  The  neurotic  only  wants 
certainty  in  regard  to  this  point  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  put 
the  wife  to  all  sorts  of  tests.  In  the  burning  jealousy  which  from 
this  point  on  possesses  the  neurotic  the  expedients  by  which  the 
wife  is  degraded  follow  of  themselves  and  the  egoistic  feeling  of 
the  jealous  neurotic  is  thereby  so  greatly  elevated  that  he  is 
often  not  in  a  condition  to  separate  from  the  justly  or  unjustly 

1  Compare    Frischauf,    "  The    Psychology   of   the    Younger   Brother,"    B. 
Reinhardt,  Munich  (in  preparation). 


PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST        175 

accused  person.  This  latter  fact  which  is  often  met  with  is  wholly 
dependent  on  the  masculine  guiding  idea  of  the  patient.  He 
cannot  endure  the  thought  that  one  could  abandon  him  and 
reconstructs  the  facts  in  such  a  way  that  he  is  hindered,  by  love, 
by  pity,  by  fear  of  misfortune  which  might  come  to  wife  or 
children  from  taking  the  final  step. 

Perhaps  the  striving  to  be  'first,  to  be  master  of  all,  is 
constructed  on  a  feeling  of  inferiority  based  with  justification 
or  without  it  on  smallness  of  stature  or  of  the  genital  organs.  In 
the  developed  neurosis  the  patient  through  the  arrangement  of  a 
neurotic  symptom  fails  at  a  distance  from  the  opportunity  in 
which  he  was  to  have  given  proof.  As  a  frequent  symptom  of 
this  sort  I  was  able  to  observe  compulsory  blushing. 

In  a  less  marked  degree  the  tendency  to  be  first  is  a  universal 
human  characteristic  and  concomitant  therewith  is  regularly 
found  an  inclination  to  conflict  in  all  human  beings.  The 
competitive  race  begins  even  in  earliest  childhood  and  creates 
its  psychic  organs  and  reassuring  traits  of  character.  Thus  one 
often  finds  in  children  the  trait  of  character  that  they  wish  to 
be  the  first  to  eat  or  drink  or  that  they  like  to  run  ahead  in  order 
to  reach  a  place  before  others.  Not  rarely  at  five  years  of  age 
they  carry  on  the  play  of  trying  to  outrun  every  wagon  and  many 
child's  games  owe  their  origin  to  the  idea  of  competitive  races. 
Many  persons  preserve  this  inclination  throughout  their  entire 
life  in  the  form  of  an  unconscious  gesture,  always  wish  to  walk 
at  the  head  in  a  company  or  hasten  their  steps  when  any  one 
attempts  to  pass  them  on  the  street.  In  a  transferred  sense  this 
tendency  makes  itself  noticeable  by  the  fact  that  those  who 
possess  it  are  given  to  hero-worship  whereby  the  more  profound 
sense  comes  to  light  of  being  himself,  also  Heros,  Achilles, 
Alexander,  Hannibal,  Caesar,  Napoleon  or  Archimedes,  and  thus 
betraying  at  the  same  time  the  guiding  fiction  and  the  original 
feeling  of  inferiority.  The  likeness  to  God  also  reveals  itself 
as  an  active  fiction  and  is  manifested  at  times  in  fairy  tales,  in 
phantasy,  and  in  the  psychoses.  We  have  emphasized  that  in 
this  state  of  the  predispositions  and  traits  of  character  all  bonds 
of  friendship  and  love  are  threatened  and  when  the  stronger 
uncertainty  requires  it,  forces  the  patient  into  doubt,  makes 
him  represent  scarecrows  or  ideal  forms  by  means  of  which  he 
secures  himself  permanently  from  reality.  A  caricature  of 
Caesar,  he  now  seeks  his  mother,  the  small  city,  the  lower 
relations,  wanders  at  times  restlessly  from  one  place  of  residence 
to  another  as  if  the  external  relations  were  the  cause  of  his 
dissatisfaction.  In  this  developed  neurosis  the  sexual  appetite 
is  frequently  directed  to  children,  persons  of  low  station,  maids  ; 
homosexuality,  perverse  inclinations  or  inclinations  to  mastur- 
bation are  constructed  and  adhered  to  because  the  patient  hopes 


176  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

thus  more  easily  to  master  the  situation.  For  the  fear  of  a 
woman  hinders  a  natural  sexual  relation  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  neurotic  in  order  to  avoid  the  defeat  of  which  he  stands  in 
fear,  arrives  at  the  expedient  of  ejaculatio  precox,  of  pollutions, 
and  of  impotence. 

The  circumstances  are  similar  in  neurotic  women  of  this  type, 
in  whom  frequently  rivalry  in  society  with  friends  in  the  large 
city,  with  sisters,  with  a  daughter  and  a  daughter-in-law  is 
secretly  brewing,  and  forces  to  neurotic  securities  and  this  causes 
illness.  In  male  neurotics  the  social  position  leads  to  the 
development  of  a  neurosis  as  soon  as  precedence  in  society,  in 
science  or  in  amusement  is  called  into  question  and  contested. 

Where  the  feeling  of  inferiority  of  the  younger  child  forms  the 
fictitious  guiding  ideal  according  to  the  pattern  of  the  first  born 
or  the  earliest  born  the  most  varied  real  and  apparent  advantages 
incite  the  desire  and  envy  of  the  younger  child.  Nearly  always 
teachers  will  notice  traits  such  as  envy  of  the  size  of  the  older 
brother,  of  his  growth  of  hair,  of  the  size  of  his  genital  organs. 
That  fictitious  values  are  thereto  given  I  was  able  to  infer  from 
the  psychotherapeutic  treatment  of  two  brothers,  of  whom  each 
had  envied  the  other  in  childhood  on  account  of  the  development 
of  the  genital  organs.  In  the  same  manner  the  real  preference 
for  the  older  brother  or  such  as  arises  naturally  from  the  situation 
becomes  the  point  of  attack.  The  fact  that  he  is  taken  to  the 
theatre  and  on  journeys,  that  he  has  more  experience  in  the 
sexual  problem,  is  sexually  active,  that  he  is  preferred  by  girls 
and  by  the  servants  may  fill  the  younger  child,  where  there  is  a 
feeling  of  inferiority,  with  the  most  profound  bitterness.  For 
this  melancholy,  at  times  a  hopeless  emotional  condition,  arose 
at  a  very  early  age  in  our  patient  and  attained  an  incredible 
degree.  At  times  there  seems  no  prospect  of  victory  in  the 
competition.  His  manly  tendency  turns  around  toward  the 
pseudomasochistic  side  2  and  seeks  now  to  attain  the  manly  goal 
by  emphasizing  the  feelings  of  sickness  and  weakness,  by  yielding 
and  submitting  to  an  extreme  degree  in  the  hope  of  thus  winning 
the  protection  of  parents  and  those  with  more  strength  and  to 
gain  in  this  manner  the  desired  security  in  life.  I  have  seen 
cases  where  protracted  catarrh  in  childhood  (Czerny's  exudative 
diathesis)  was  sustained  by  a  combination  of  the  clearing  of  the 
throat  and  panting  and  led  to  sneezing  fits  and  asthma  (see 
Strumpell's  Asthma-theory)  and  in  connection  with  which  at  the 
same  time  fictions  of  pregnancy  and  castration  and  exaggerated 
anal  sensitiveness  effected  a  homosexual  factor  which  was  to  be 
understood  symbolically.  In  one  of  these  cases  the  fictitious 

*  According  to  our  conception,  every  perversion  arid  inversion  is  &  simile, 
a  symbol.  For  pseudomasochism  see  "  The  Psychic  Treatment  of  Trigeminal 
Neuralgia,"  1.  c. 


PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST        177 

feminine  presentation  went  so  far  that  the  patient  came  to  identify 
himself  with  his  younger  sister  by  a  change  of  form  of  the 
guiding  line.  And  as  the  mother  showed  a  noticeable  inclination 
always  to  be  late,  he  took  this  fact  and  the  wish  that  he  had 
been  born  later  in  place  of  his  younger  sister  as  a  guiding  motive 
always  to  arrive  late  wherever  he  went,  even  when  he  came  to  me 
for  treatment,  a  phenomenon  which  did  not  vanish  when  it  was 
revealed,  but  only  after  a  cure  had  been  effected.  In  these 
feminine  presentations  the  masculine  protest  is  striven  after  by 
a  circuitous  route,  by  following  the  feminine  guiding  line  and  is 
regularly  accompanied  by  day  dreams,  sensitiveness,  disputatious- 
ness,  discontent,  and  is  also  as  a  rule  forced  into  side  paths  by 
fear  of  tests,  of  decisions,  of  the  sexual  partner,  so  that  perverse 
tendencies,  onanism  and  pollutions  are  frequently  found.  The 
initial  phenomena  of  inferiority  of  organs  may  disappear  or  only 
remain  as  a  trace.  Smallness  and  anomalies  of  the  exterior 
genital  organs  may  sometimes  be  discovered,  but  as  a  rule  only 
reveal  themselves  psychically  in  the  fear  of  not  being  able  to 
dominate  the  sexual  partner.  This  emotional  condition  often 
leads  to  jealousy,  tendency  to  torment  and  sadistic  inclinations, 
by  which  it  is  sought  to  establish  the  proof  of  potency  and  of 
being  loved. 

Often  the  pride  of  the  patient  is  so  great  that  he  is  himself 
not  conscious  of  his  jealousy.  According  to  our  experience  the 
solution  of  this  psychic  constellation  is  that  the  masculine  protest 
in  addition  to  other  effects  has  also  the  effect  of  repressing 
jealousy  in  order  to  prevent  a  diminution  of  personal  worth.  The 
consequence  of  this  repression  is  not  great,  at  most  that  the 
patient  finds  himself  in  ambiguous  situations.  Generally  he  acts 
as  if  he  were  jealous  and  often  so  plainly  that  every  one  else 
except  the  patient  knows  it.  At  times,  however,  the  jealousy 
is  masked  by  depression,  headache,  refuge  in  solitude,  etc. 

I  will  give  yet  another  dream  of  a  patient  who  came  under 
my  treatment  because  of  depression  and  anxiety  in  society, 
because  in  the  partial  interpretations  undertaken  by  the  patient 
this  dream  reveals  many  of  the  points  just  described  of  the 
competition  of  a  neurotic  with  his  older  brother  : 

"It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  made  a  bet  with  my  brother 
Joseph  to  beat  him  to  a  certain  place  which  was  not  distinguish- 
able in  the  dream. 

"  I  saw  myself  now  suddenly  in  a  little  three-wheeled  automo- 
bile on  the  road,  and  tried  to  direct  the  automobile  as  well  as 
possible  by  means  of  a  small  apparatus  similar  to  a  key  which  I 
was  only  able  to  take  between  the  thumb  and  index  finger.  I 
•rode  -very  insecurely  and  felt  uncomfortable.  I  got  into  by-paths 
on  which  I  could  go  no  farther.  The  people  whom  I  met  were 
astonished  and  laughed.  I  was  forced  to  take  the  auto  on  my 


178  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

back  and  turn  back  to  the  road.  There  I  rode  farther  in  the 
same  manner. 

"  Suddenly  I  saw  myself  with  my  three-wheeled  vehicle  in  the 
room  of  an  inn  which  was  well  known  to  me  and  was  situated  on 
a  mountain  near  my  native  place.  I  now  shoved  my  automobile 
into  a  corner  and  troubled  myself  no  more  about  it.  My  brother 
had  arrived  before  me  at  the  same  inn  and  alongside  him  there 
was  sitting  a  well-known  family  who  were  deeply  in  debt,  con- 
sisting of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M and  their  two  daughters.  My 

brother  and  I  paid  no  attention  to  them.  Then  Mr.  M 

came  to  our  table,  spoke  to  us,  and  finally  we  went  to  their  table 
which,  however,  was  unpleasant  to  me. 

"The  thought  of  a  bet  came  up  in  the  course  of  a  conversation 
with  my  brother.  He  advised  me  not  to  bind  myself  at  an  early 
age  to  the  flighty  girl  that  I  wished  to  marry  and  told  me  from 
his  own  experiences  what  ill  results  this  can  have  to  a  man 
striving  for  success.  I  comprehended  this  and  promised  to  act 
according  to  his  advice.  He  took  little  stock  of  such  promises. 
That  incited  me  to  a  bet.  In  early  years  before  I  knew  what  lay 
buried  in  the  depths  of  his  nature  he  seemed  to  be  a  model  to  me 
and  I  strove  to  become  like  him  in  character,  mode  of  thought, 
and  bearing.  Now  I  see,  that  I  must  not  copy  him  in  many 
things,  if  I  do  not  wish  to  follow  in  his  footsteps. 

"It  is  easier  to  reach  one's  destination  with  an  automobile 
than  on  foot.  This  auto,  however,  obviously  represented  the 
wife,  to  whom  I  had  tied  myself.  A  three-wheeled  auto  is  less 
perfect  than  a  four-wheeled  one,  the  former  lacks  something. 
Thus  it  is  with  a  woman.  Man  is  perfect.  For  that  reason  the 
antithesis,  the  small  handle.  In  my  earliest  youth  I  was 
constantly  seeking  after  something  in  girls.  There  was  some- 
thing I  could  not  understand  about  them.  Frequently  we 
walked  under  a  bridge  and  yet  we  did  not  know  what  we 
expected  to  see  through  the  cracks  above.  At  that  time — I  was 
perhaps  five  years  old — I  had  not  the  slightest  idea  of  sexual 
procedures  ('  uncertainty  ')  and  had  also  come  upon  no  sexual 
aberration.  I  can,  however,  say  that  even  at  that  time  something- 
drew  me  to  girls,  '  the  small  handle  on  the  auto'  indicated  at  the 
same  time  that  I  possessed  a  too  small  penis  or  none  at  all,  for 
which  reason  the  girl  must  be  superior  to  me. 

"  I  came  into  by-paths  with  my  car,  that  is,  through  the 
woman,  through  which  I  could  not  pass  and  which  brought  me 
no  nearer  to  the  goal  which  I  wished  to  attain,  that  is,  no  nearer 
to  the  summit  of  my  efforts. 

"I  took  the  car  on  my  back — the  woman  was  thus  more 
than  ever  above  me. 

"  The  inn  in  which  I  finally  found  myself  with  my  brother 
stood  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  this  signified  my  burning  desire 


PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST        179. 

for  success  in  life,  as  I  had  expected  it  of  my  brother. 

"  That  I  met  with  a  family  which  was  deeply  in  debt  indicates 
that  I  had  often  had  exaggerated  thoughts  concerning  the  cost 
of  a  wife  to  her  husband  and  that  the  wife  is  too  often  the  cause 
of  running  into  debt. 

"  It  is  clear  to  me  also  that  trains  of  thought  on  masturbation 
(by-paths,  being  in  debt)  run  through  the  dream,  as  well  as  the 
false  connection  of  masturbation  and  the  stunting  of  the  genitals. 
The  latter  I  ascribe  to  my  uncertainty  in  regard  to  my  bride. 
Without  knowing  it  I  hit  upon  all  sorts  of  expedients  for  getting 
rid  of  her  (in  the  corner).  My  condition  of  depression  serves 
the  same  purpose,  to  be  liberated  from  my  wife,  to  prove  my 
superiority  in  life." 

In  our  physiognomic  of  the  soul  we  understand  the  theory  of 
character  to  be  this,  we  have  already  frequently  spoken  of  those 
obvious  and  deep-seated  wants  which  seek  to  support  and 
maximate  the  ego-consciousness  as  an  obtrusive  proof  of 
manliness,  as  if  there  were  a  constant  fear  of  becoming  "  de- 
classed," of  the  revelation  of  a  feminine  role.  Tnus  the 
exaggerated  modesty  of  many  neurotics,  who  can  visit  no  public 
toilet,  who  suffer  from  inhibition  of  the  flow  of  urine  in  the 
presence  of  others,  who  withdraw  from  female  society  on  account 
of  blushing  or  anxiety  and  palpitation  of  the  heart,  reveals  to  us 
the  strained  manly  ambition,  which  supports  itself  against  the 
original  feeling  of  inferiority.  The  masculine  protest  of  these 
patients,  insecure  to  the  core,  forces  them  to  this  arrangement 
whose  boundaries  pass  over  into  those  of  bashfulness  and 
awkwardness  :  or  there  is  a  concordance  of  these  and  other  traits 
which  may  on  occasion  supplant  each  other.  Often  in  neurotic 
persons  of  both  sexes  one  finds  an  inability  to  go  to  the  toilet  in 
cases  of  great  necessity  before  others.  The  greater  modesty  of 
women,  especially  of  neurotic  women,  in  all  relations  of  life 
originates  from  the  fear  which  is  implanted  in  them  from  earliest 
childhood  that  attention  might  be  directed  to  their  sex.  I  have 
often  convinced  myself  that  the  performances  of  girls  and  women 
suffer  considerably  from  this  more  or  less  unconscious  impression, 
indeed  that  the  progress  in  the  mental  development — just  as  is 
the  case  in  male  patients,  who  feel  unmanly — the  formation  of 
social  and  professional  relations  and  relations  of  love  are 
immediately  checked  as  soon  as  the  patient  comes  into  a 
"  feminine  "  or  subordinate  role  or  presupposes  this  expectation 
in  others. 

This  fact  is  in  no  manner  affected  when  expressed  or 
repressed  sexual  stimuli  come  to  light  as  the  apparent  source  of 
the  checks  of  aggression.  They  are  similarly  arranged,  have 
the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  fear  of  the  partner  and  of  permitting 
the  retreat  decided  upon  in  the  plan  of  life  to  be  entered  upon; 


i8o  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

with  certainty,  are  there  also  acts  of  foresight.  The  neurotic 
had  already  in  childhood  laid  the  foundation  of  this  foresight 
and  in  it  is  reflected  the  feeling  of  shame  as  the  guiding  line 
of  reassuring  modesty  and  the  prudery  of  civilization.  The 
previous  history  of  the  patient  reveals  the  exaggerated  modesty 
and  this  is  true  at  times  of  those  who  in  other  respects  show  a 
boyish  nature,  and  the  anxiety  of  nervous  children  on  being 
exposed  may  be  observed  in  their  conduct.  They  exclude 
^everyone  from  the  room  and  will  lock  the  doors  when  they  are 
going  to  undress.  This  conduct  is  also  often  observed  in  boys 
who  have  grown  up  among  girls.  The  masculine  protest  of  the 
latter  is  expressed  in  these  cases  in  the  derogation  of  the  boy, 
•either  purposely  or  unthinkingly,  until  he  goes  so  far  as  to  hide 
his  sex.  For  the  development  of  the  neuroses  this  expedient 
of  cowardice  has  an  unfavorable  significance.  It  is  equal  to 
later  castration  thoughts  and  wishes  to  the  neurotic,  wishes  to  be 
a  woman,  as  soon  as  the  fear  of  the  wife  seems  actual,  or  as 
soon  as  he  wishes  to  escape  a  decision.  And  it  arises  never- 
theless originally  from  the  compulsion  of  an  exaggerated 
masculine  protest,  which  is  easily  perceptible  from  the 
accompanying,  often  continuing  traits  of  character,  such  as 
tyranny,  burning  ambition,  the  desire  to  have  everything,  to  be 
first  everywhere  ;  from  the  emotional  predispositions  to  rage  and 
anger  and  finally  from  the  tendency  to  derogate  and  to  too  great 
foresight. 

If  therefore  neurotic  modesty  should  be  considered  equal  to 
ihe  secret  attempt  to  play  the  man,  this  "consciousness  of  role" 
(Groos)  is  more  clearly  manifested  in  the  apparently  antithetical 
trait  of  character  of  shamelessness.  In  reality  this  latter  line 
proves  to  be  a  reenforcement  and  continuation  of  the  former,  as 
an  obtrusive  reminder  to  the  environment  that  one  is  a  man. 
"The  guiding  idea,  which  causes  the  predisposition  to,  or  habit 
of  exhibitionistic  gestures,  hence  often  insulting  or  tactless 
-obtrusion  in  respect  to  the  environment,  betrays  in  detail  the 
strong  masculine  factor.  Thus  it  is  when  in  nervous  boys  and 
men  sexual  exhibitionism  breaks  through  or  is  expressed 
habitually  in  certain  faults  of  toilette.  In  all  similar  cases  one 
finds  the  belief  in  the  power  of  the  phallus  constructed  as  in  the 
antique  religious  cults  as  consciousness  of  power.  Narcissistic 
traits  are  also  regularly  intermingled  so  that  in  these  cases  the 
attitude  of  conquest,  accompanied  by  coquetry,  by  the  inability 
to  believe  in  a  refusal,  attracts  the  attention.  In  shameless  girls 
the  trait  is  even  more  noticeable  because  it  is  unusual.  In 
conversation,  in  dress,  in  behavior,  at  times  only  in  small  things, 
at  times  obscurely  or  in  coprology  they  demonstrate  their  inability 
to  adapt  themselves  to  or  to  satisfy  themselves  with  their 
feminine  role.  The  basis  of  operation  for  both  sexes  is 


PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST        181 

manifested  then  in  such  a  way  that  each  demands  from  the  other 
recognition  or  an  extreme  submission.  In  the  analysis  of  such 
neurotic  girls,  at  times  only  in  their  dreams  and  symptoms  is 
observed  the  childish  expectation  of  a  metamorphosis  into  a  male 
and  in  other  cases  always  as  an  attempted  substitute  for  the  will 
to  power,  the  wish  to  be  above.  If  two  persons  of  this  sort 
meet,  the  result  is  not  rarely  that  the  reenforced  masculine 
guiding  line  of  the  one  affects  the  other  preliminarily  as  a  sort 
of  miracle,  a  talisman,  because  in  her  guiding  ideal  the  belief  in 
the  miraculousness  and  wonder  working  power  of  manliness  is 
also  contained.  Thus  there  is  often  for  both  what  seems  a  chance 
fulfilling  of  destiny,  but  which  is  really  brought  about  by  the 
power  of  their  idea  of  personality.  One  often  finds  immodest 
conduct  in  neurotic  girls  as  an  anticipation  of  their  fictitious 
expectation  ;  they  conduct  themselves  as  if  they  were  really  a 
boy  or  a  man,  expose  themselves  naked  or  live  out  in  neurotic 
symptoms,  dreams  and  phantasies,  their  masculine  reincarnation. 
Often  in  such  patients  the  attempt  is  observed  to  ascribe  the 
miraculous  power  of  the  phallus  by  means  of  an  alteration  of 
form  of  the  fiction  to  other  parts  of  the  body,  for  example  to  the 
hands,  feet,  breasts,  which  thus  altered  into  male  members  are 
taken  into  especial  favor  as  fetiches  and  enjoy  a  Narcissus-form 
worship,  as  often  also  the  genital  organs  or  the  whole  body.  This 
fetichism  is  nearly  always  transferred  to  the  articles  of  clothing 
and  constitutes  a  large  part  of  the  charm  of  fashion,  from  which 
we  therefore  must  assume  that  this,  like  the  fetichism  itself, 
must  be  regarded  as  a  substitute  of  manliness  with  its  larger 
sphere  of  usefulness,  which  has  been  lost  but  which  is  always  to 
be  sought. 

Like  immodesty  the  deep-seated  neurotic  infidelity  of  many 
sick  patients  is  an  imitation  of  the  exaggerated,  apperceived 
masculine  image.  It  indicates  to  us  one  of  the  ways  which  the 
masculine  goal  is  forced  to  take.  It  is,  like  many  of  the  neurotic 
traits  of  character,  often  only  ideal,  a  maker  of  humor  or  of  the 
view  of  life  (Marczinowsky)  or  extends  only  to  the  boundary 
where  the  reality  of  the  female  role  begins.  Much  oftener  the 
virtue  of  fidelity  is  chosen  as  the  means  of  security  in  the  fear  of 
the  man.  Phantasies  of  infidelity,  at  times  to  the  degree  of 
hallucinations  or  dreams,  often  result  where  there  is  real  or 
imagined  subjection  exacted  by  the  husband.  Phantasies  of 
prostitution  indicate  in  these  cases  the  neurotic,  exaggerated 
perspective  concerning  the  power  of  the  sexual  appetite  and  serve 
the  same  purpose  of  gaining  security.  In  general  in  patients  who 
are  prone  to  speak  of  their  sexuality  the  suspicion  is  justified 
that  they  paint  their  bugbear  with  great  exaggeration.  The 
reality  is  always  in  their  favor.  In  girls  often  the  holy  conviction 
of  their  infidelity  occupies  the  foreground  entirely.  It  may  be- 


i8a  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

therefrom  inferred  that  for  them  even  a  single  man  would  be  too 
much  and  that  they  wish  to  protect  themselves  from  love  and 
especially  from  marriage  :  "  for  where  does  my  passion  drive 
me?  '  The  real  infidelity  of  many  persons,  too,  both  men  and 
women,  is  the  result  of  the  fear  of  the  partner  of  whose 
superiority  they  are  afraid.  The  understanding  of  the 
accompanying  symptoms,  fear  of  solitude,  fear  of  places,  fear 
of  society,  etc.,  unsocial  conduct,  fixation  of  faults  of  childhood 
and  derogation  of  the  opposite  sex  are  other  signs  by  which  the 
masculine  purpose  of  these  traits  of  character  is  revealed.  Often 
despised  love  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  of  a  reduction  of  the  egoistic 
sense  to  such  a  degree  that  hate,  indifference  or  infidelity  are 
the  forms  which  the  masculine  protest  assumes. 

In  this  place  a  few  educational  observations  may  be  added, 
which  I  was  in  a  position  to  make  in  regard  to  neurotics  suffering 
from  jealousy.  They  all  have  reference  to  the  search  for  proofs 
of  the  influence  of  the  individual  over  the  partner  and  every 
situation  which  is  even  half-way  fitted  for  this  purpose  is  made 
use  of.  The  insatiableness  with  which  the  neurotic  tests  his 
partner  is  an  indication  of  the  want  of  self-confidence,  of  his  lack 
of  self-esteem,  of  his  uncertainty,  so  that  it  is  easy  to  be  seerv 
how  his  jealous  efforts  serve  to  bring  him  more  into  notice,  to 
attract  more  attention  to  himself  and  thus  to  secure  his  self- 
esteem.  The  old  feeling  of  being  disregarded  and  neglected  is 
seen  to  be  revived  upon  the  slightest  occasion  together  with  the 
childish  attitude  of  wishing  to  have  everything,  to  obtain  a 
proof  of  superiority  from  the  partner.  A  glance,  a  word  in 
company,  an  acknowledgment  of  a  favor,  a  show  of  sympathy 
for  a  picture,  for  an  author,  for  a  relative,  even  a  protective 
attitude  towards  servants  may  be  taken  as  the  cause  of  the 
operation.  In  severe  cases  the  impression  is  distinctly  given  that 
the  jealous  individual  cannot  rest  because  he  has  no  confidence 
in  peaceful  happiness  on  account  of  his  misfortune.  Now  the 
neurosis  develops  in  which  the  effort  is  made  to  bend  the  partner 
by  an  arrangement  of  attacks,  to  arouse  the  sympathy  of  the 
partner,  or  the  attack  is  intended  as  a  punishment.  Headaches, 
weeping  fits,  conditions  of  weakness,  paralysis,  attacks  of 
anxiety  and  depression,  silence,  etc.,  have  the  same  value  as 
abandoment  to  alcoholism,  masturbation,  perversion  and 
lewdness.  The  lines  of  distrust  and  doubt — often  about  the 
legitimacy  of  the  children — become  more  pronounced,  outbreaks 
of  wrath  and  scolding,  mistrust  of  the  entire  opposite  sex  are 
regular  phenomena  and  reveal  the  other  side  of  jealousy  as  a 
preparation  for  the  derogation  of  the  other.  Often  pride 
prevents  consciousness  of  jealousy  ;  the  conduct  is  the  same.  The 
situation  is  not  rarely  made  worse  by  the  circumstance  that  the 
other  party  meets  the  helplessness  of  the  jealous  person  with  ati 


PUNCTUALITY,  THE  WILL  TO  BE  FIRST        183 

unconscious  satisfaction,  thereby  giving  foundation  to  his  feeling 
of  superiority  and  does  not  therefore  find  the  right  tone,  the 
proper  attitude  to  hold  the  jealousy  at  least  within  limits, 
jealousy  of  children  often  leads  to  grave  faults  of  education.  The 
belief  in  miracles  as  a  threat  to  the  sexual  organs  through  births 
or  aging  nearly  always  causes  jealous  excitement  to  be  more 
strongly  manifested  in  neurotically  disposed  persons. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER  ;  THE  IDEAL  IN  THE  NEUROSIS  ;  INSOMNIA 
AND  COMPULSION  TO  SLEEP  ;  NEUROTIC  COMPARISON  OF  MAN 
AND  WOMAN  ;  FORMS  OF  THE  FEAR  OF  THE  WIFE 

IN  this  striving  of  the  neurotic  for  the  attainment  of  the 
masculine  guiding  goal,  one  never  misses  the  fact,  as  has  already 
been  emphasized,  that  the  fear  of  a  decision  resolves  itself  into 
a  fear  of  the  opposite  sex,  that  touchstone  of  the  individual's 
own  power,  the  fulfiller  of  the  guiding  idea.  One  finds  in  the 
family  life  of  boys  and  girls,  in  their  play  and  phantasy,  in  their 
assortment  of  experiences  of  all  kinds,  in  their  day  dreams  and 
poems  and  in  their  living  out  of  actual  experiences  preparations 
for  the  struggle  for  supremacy  so  early,  with  such  abundance  and 
such  unity  of  purpose  that  in  arriving  at  puberty  secure  deter- 
minants for  love  and  marriage  already  exist  and  by  these  alone 
the  choice  and  direction  of  their  eroticism  is  defined  within 
narrow  limits.  Let  us  consider  now  of  what  nature  these 
determinants  of  love  objects  may  be  in  neurotics.  Among  these 
should  be  mentioned  tyranny,  hypersensitiveness,  ambition, 
discontent  and  all  the  principal  neurotic  character-traits  already 
described,  the  security-giving  devices  of  mistrust,  caution, 
jealousy  and  derogatory  tendency  which  is  everywhere  seeking 
faults,  the  neurotic  digressions  and  subterfuges  which  are  at  first 
directed  against  members  of  their  own  family,  and  which  are 
intended,  with  this  as  a  basis,  to  prove  their  own  superiority  or 
to  facilitate  the  escape  of  the  superiority  of  others.  The  neurotic 
device  has  its  part  in  this  and  demands  for  love  some  quality 
which  is  difficult  of  attainment  or  entirely  out  of  reach,  or  that 
the  sexual  partner  "  shall  supply  that  which  is  lacking  "  (Plato 
and  many  modern  sexologists),  which  is  paramount  to  saying  that 
the  partner  must  fulfil  or  represent  the  "  ego-ideal  "  which  the 
other  party  to  the  contract  has  constructed  as  a  compensation. 
The  normal  child,  too,  expects  from  his  future,  and  especially 
from  the  one  chosen  in  love  the  fulfillment  of  his  ideals.  But  in 
due  course  of  time,  after  he  has  permitted  himself  to  be  driven 
by  his  "  ideal  "  as  a  means  to  an  end  he  is  able  to  detach 
himself  from  it,  descend  to  reality  and  reckon  with  the  demands 
of  reality.  Not  so  with  the  neurotic.  He  is  unable  to  change  his 
neurotic  perspectives  through  his  own  power,  he  cannot  dispense 
with  his  principles  which  have  by  now  become  fixed  and  rigid, 
he  has  no  longer  control  over  his  traits  of  character.  Chained 

184 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.  185 

to  his  "  idea"  he  brings  his  old  prejudices  into  his  love-relations 
and  behaves  as  though  they  ought  to  procure  for  him  not  reality 
but  the  security  of  his  "  idea,"  the  triumph  of  his  strained 
maculine  protest.  And  soon  disillusion  makes  its  appearance. 
For  it  is  introduced  by  the  neurotic  himself  as  a  protective 
measure,  as  a  security  against  the  prospective  derogatory  effect 
of  his  fictive  finale.  The  disillusionment  furnishes  the  adequate 
basis  for  a  continuance  of  the  strife  against  the  partner,  for  a 
recognition  of  every  opportunity  for  the  degradation  of  the  latter. 
For  these  were,  after  all,  the  most  immediate  goals  of  the  old 
preparatory  training. 

Unconsciously,  the  fear  of  the  sexual  partner  hovers  in  the  soul 
of  the  growing  neurotic  as  though  he  anticipated  in  the  approach 
of  that  event  the  end  of  his  masculine  fiction  and  with  it  the 
annihilation  of  his  ego-consciousness,  of  his  guiding  star,  of  his 
security  in  the  chaos  of  life.  He  creates  for  himself  ideals  in 
order  to  detract  from  reality.  He  screws  his  ego-consciousness, 
often  in  a  narcissistic  manner,  as  high  as  possible  in  order  to 
make  every  partner  appear  small  by  contrast.  He  surrounds 
himself  with  a  wall  of  the  most  crass  egotism  in  order  to  furnish 
the  proof  of  his  unfitness  to  himself  and  others.  He  arranges 
in  a  neurotic  manner  doubt,  uncertainty,  awkwardness,  adheres 
to  old  faults  of  childhood  and  constructs  new  deficiencies  in  order 
to  keep  himself  at  a  distance.  He  invents  weaknesses,  sub- 
missiveness,  masochistic  impulses  in  order  to  alarm  himself.  The 
power  of  the  sex  instinct  becomes  for  him  an  "  overvalued  idea  " 
(Wernicke),  because  he  feels  its  need  and  apperceives  his  sexual 
desire  as  the  superiority  of  the  opposite  sex.  The  neurotic  is 
incapable  of  love,  not  because  he  has  repressed  his  sexuality, 
but  because  his  rigid  predispositions  lie  in  the  direction 
of  his  fiction,  in  the  line  towards  power.  The  neurotic 
caricatures  of  Don  Juan  and  Messalina  are,  notwithstanding 
their  sexuality,  neurotic.  Those  who  become  inverts  and 
perverts  have  already  escaped  the  threatening  cliffs  and  seek 
henceforth  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity.  And  where  thoughts 
of  incest  apparently  effect  a  check  on  the  erotic  life,  it  can  be 
shown  that  to  the  neurotic,  who  constantly  fears  a  decision,  this 
represents  a  secure  refuge,  that  is,  the  secure  way  to  the  mother 
or  father  clothed  in  a  sexual  simile. 

The  flight  from  the  partner,  especially  the  flight  from  the 
wife,  succeeds  better  in  those  neurotics  who  have  early 
succeeded  in  finding  their  way  to  a  profession  or  who  have  turned 
to  an  artistic  vocation.  It  is  true  that  should  they  be  threatened 
with  a  feminine  r61e,  with  defeat,  the  fear  of  a  decision,  of  their 
future,  of  life,  of  death  may  overtake  them  in  the  midst  of  their 
labors.  Frequently,  however,  some  sort  of  tranquilizing 
occupation  furnishes  the  neurotic  the  means  securing  his  ego- 

O 


186  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

consciousness,  or  his  talents,  in  effecting  a  formal  change  in  his 
fiction,  furnish  him  the  opportunity  to  contest  for  the  palm  of 
masculinity  in  art.  It  is  then  not  rare  that  the  motive  and 
content  of  his  artistic  creations  reflect  that  which  has  driven  him 
into  the  security-giving  sphere  of  art,  namely,  the  power  of 
woman  and  his  fear  of  the  wife. 

The  wonderfully  effective  charm  which  many  myths,  many 
creations  of  art  and  philosophy  possess  for  us,  is  in  line  with  this  ; 
the  fault  of  the  woman,  the  banal  "  cherchez  la  femme,"  in  all 
evils.  The  thought  is  expressed  in  a  bizarre  manner  by 
Baudelaire,  "  I  can  form  no  idea  of  a  beautiful  woman  without  at 
the  same  time  imagining  misfortune  connected  with  her;" 
mythically  and  sublimely,  in  the  story  of  Eve,  traces  of  which 
have  never  been  missing  from  poetry.  "The  Iliad"  is  built 
upon  this  foundation,  as  well  as  the  "Thousand  and  One 
Nights,"  and  if  one  examines  more  closely,  every  great  and 
small  artistic  creation.  What  is  its  leading  thought  ?  Nothing 
less  than  to  win  a  standpoint  in  the  uncertainties  of  life,  in  the 
conflict  with  love,  in  the  fear  of  woman. 

Woman  as  a  sphynx,  as  a  demon,  as  a  vampire,  as  a  witch, 
as  a  man-murdering  horror,  as  benefactress,  in  all  these  pictures 
is  reflected  the  sexual  impulse  which  has  become  over-excited  by 
the  masculine  protest  and  which  has  its  counterpart  in  the 
caricature  of  woman,  in  the  obscene  outpourings  of  gall,  in 
anecdotes  and  degrading  comparisons.  In  the  same  manner 
the  neurotic,  philistine  male-consciousness  and  the  desire  for 
superiority  forces  to  those  firm  convictions  which  would  deny 
woman  equal  rights,  sometimes  even  the  right  to  existence. 

Another  turn  which  neurotic  trains  of  thought  may  take  in 
seeking  security  from  woman  leads  as  a  natural  consequence  away 
from  reality  and  life.  In  line  with  this  Schopenhauer  was  led 
to  a  denial  of  life,  the  present,  all  time.  (The  preparations  for 
this  attitude  originated  in  his  unfriendly  attitude  towards  his 
mother.)  Many  patients  flee  in  a  somewhat  less  consistent  and 
methodical  manner  in  their  fear  of  woman,  but  they  constantly 
hanker  after  the  fulfillment  of  their  fiction  in  phantasies  and 
dreams  which  they  weave  about  the  future.  Every  neurotic  shows 
this  trait,  wishes  to  illuminate  and  investigate  the  future  in  order 
to  secure  himself  in  good  time.  His  cautious  and  anxious 
expectation  gives  the  fundamental  tone  to  future  events,  gray, 
sombre,  full  of  danger.  For  they  must  seem  thus  to  him  in  order 
to  be  effective  as  incentives.  Now  he  is  able  to  keep  the  greatest 
danger  in  sight,  draw  the  lines  of  his  character-traits  and  pre- 
dispositions to  the  fineness  of  a  hair  in  order  to  secure  himself 
adequately.  Now  he  believes  to  have  discovered  the  road  to  his 
goal,  and  instead  of  ambition,  longing  after  victory  and  triumph, 
honor,  elevation,  power  and  admiration,  he  allows  his  symptoms 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.     187 

to  become  effective.  He  experiences  under  the  compulsion  of 
his  guiding  principle,  as  a  prophetic  gift,  what  sober  individuals 
experience  through  their  foresight  and  estimation  of  reality.  But 
with  neurotic  strivings  of  "  anticipatory  thinking,"  attention 
approaches  problems  and  arranges  them  in  accordance  with  the 
neurotic's  antithetical  mode  of  apperception,  which  values  a 
defeat  as  death,  as  inferiority,  as  effeminacy,  and  victory  as  im- 
mortality, higher  values,  masculine  triumph,  while  the  hundreds 
of  other  possibilities  of  life  are  annihilated  by  withdrawing  them 
from  attention.  In  the  same  manner  the  way  is  entered  upon 
to  the  anticipation  of  future  triumph  and  terror  as  well  as  an 
hallucinatory  reinforcement  for  the  sake  of  security.  The 
psychoses  show  this  trend  in  a  pure  manner,  melancholia  and 
mania  as  anticipations  of  the  pure  antithesis  "  above-beneath," 
dementia  prsecox,  paranoia  and  cyclothyemia  as  a  mixture. 

The  recognition  and  construction  of  traits  of  character  now 
follow  essentially  in  strict  conformity  with  the  goal-idea.  The 
accentuation  of  the  traits  of  greed  and  economy  is  intended  to 
prevent  the  abjectness  of  poverty,  pedantry,  to  assure  against 
difficulties,  ethical  traits  of  character,  against  shame,  and  all  of 
these  against  relations  of  love  and  marriage,  against  a  subjection 
to  the  partner,  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  the  possibility  of  an 
attack  upon  the  partner,  an  ever  ready  excuse  for  his  own 
depreciation  of  others.  The  device  of  the  "  principle  of  exclu- 
sion," is  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  becomes  a  religious  or  pro- 
verbial principle  of  life,  of  the  highest  wisdom.  The  uncertain- 
ties of  our  social  system,  ethical  points  of  view  and  the  diffi- 
culties attendant  upon  the  rearing  of  children,  furnish  a  welcome 
excuse  for  the  construction  of  the  boundaries  of  a  natural  and 
reasonable  attitude  towards  life  as  narrowly  as  possible,  while 
the  obscurity  and  insolubility  of  the  problems  of  heredity  are 
distorted  in  a  similar  manner  in  order  to  justify  an  unwedded 
life.  Many  take  refuge  in  religion,  surrender  their  present  life, 
excite  their  moral  and  ascetic  instincts  in  order  to  become  par- 
takers in  the  happiness,  in  the  triumph  in  the  "beyond."  An 
asexual  role  is  arranged  and  everything  becomes  a  means  for 
the  attainment  of  the  heightened  ego-consciousness  which  is 
rendered  possible  by  the  neurotic  perspective  of  life  and  its 
experiences.  At  times  security  is  attained  through  a  want  of 
satisfaction  in  sexual  relations,  through  a  heightening  of  the 
disillusionment  to  a  marked  degree,  a  device  to  which  the 
patient  plainly  lends  his  assistance. 

It  is  only  another  phase  of  the  fear  of  the  partner  when  the 
patient  brings  his  predispositions  into  play  against  the 
psychotherapeutist.  The  neurotic  female  patient  combats  the 
man  in  the  physician  at  the  same  time,  and  seeks  to  escape  his 
masculine  influence  which  she  often  apperceives  as  most  terrify- 


i88  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

ing,  looking  at  it  as  she  does  from  a  sexual  point  of  view.  The 
male  neurotic  secretly  seeks  to  undermine  the  influence  of  the 
psychotherapeutist,  which  influence  he  apperceives  as  sexual 
superiority,  and  both  conduct  themselves  during  the  course  of 
the  treatment  as  they  had  always  conducted  themselves  when- 
ever compelled  to  take  an  active  part  in  life,  or  whenever  con- 
fronted by  a  decision. 

At  times  patients  are  found  whose  flight  from  woman  is  into 
the  past.  It  is  then  that  their  interest  for  antiquities,  heraldry, 
dead  languages,  etc.,  becomes  very  acute,  and  they  often  be- 
come quite  skillful  in  this  direction.  This  skill  is  absent  in 
those  patients  who  instead  turn  their  attention  to  grave-yards, 
death-notices  and  funerals. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  ' '  motive  of  the  fear  of 
woman"  is  the  strongest  incentive  to  art  and  phantasy.  Permit 
me  to  quote  an  abstract  from  Grillparzer's  autobiography,  which 
illuminates  much  of  our  thesis. 

"  Like  every  well-made  man  I  felt  myself  attracted  by  the 
beautiful  half  of  mankind.  I  was,  however,  far  too  little 
satisfied  with  myself  to  believe  myself  capable  of  making  deep 
impressions  in  a  short  time.  Could  it  have  been  the  vague  con- 
ception of  the  poet  or  of  poetry,  or  was  it  the  reverse  of  my 
nature,  which  when  it  does  not  repel,  attracts,  because  of  the 
spirit  of  contradiction  ?  I  would  find  myself  deeply  entangled 
while  I  still  believed  myself  to  be  only  at  the  first  advances.  This 
promised  both  pleasure  and  pain  near  at  hand,  though  mostly 
the  latter,  because  my  real  efforts  had  always  been  to  preserve 
myself  in  that  tranquil  state  which  would  not  render  difficult,  or 
even  entirely  prevent  the  approach  of  my  real  goddess,  art." 

When  both,  artist  and  neurotic,  regard  the  attraction  of 
woman  as  menacing,  as  dangerous,  as  a  compulsion  on  account 
of  the  uncertainty  of  their  triumph,  when  both  regard  amorous 
emotions  as  a  subjection,  it  is  only  in  conformity  with  the  funda- 
mental disposition  that  animates  both.  By  which  I  do  not  at 
all  intend  to  deny  the  realities  of  these  relations.  An 
examination  of  love,  be  it  ever  so  sober,  reveals  a  mutual  adapta- 
tion, a  subjection  of  our  will.  To  put  forth,  however,  special 
efforts  to  unearth  these,  to  think  of  them  as  something  significant 
and  to  renounce,  for  this  reason,  the  pleasurable  yielding  there- 
to, reveals  unequivocally  an  unconquerable  craving  for  self- 
assertion  on  the  part  of  the  person  in  question,  which  we  have 
frequently  shown  to  be  the  neurotic's  overcompensation  for  his 
neurotic  feeling  of  inferiority.  The  guiding  goal  forbids  the 
formation  of  fitting  predispositions,  or  presents  them  only  in  the 
form  of  an  unmeasurable  masochistic  exaggeration  which  is  in 
turn  itself  used  as  a  protective  measure. 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.  189 

At  times  this  craving  for  self-assertion  seeks  other  channels  as 
soon  as  it  feels  its  own  libidinous  tension  as  the  superior  power 
of  the  partner.  Wishes  and  efforts  then  emerge  to  escape  this 
power  through t  satiety,  through  orgies.  Even  castration  wishes 
and  intents,  and  similarly  ascetic  and  repentant  practices  make 
their  appearance,  such  as  flagellation,  etc.,  incited  by  the 
unconquerable  craving  for  security,  all  in  order  to  win  peace 
from  the  demon,  love.  Active,  constantly  recurring  perversions, 
especially  masochistic  manifestations,  can  be  explained  in  no 
other  way.  They  are  an  expression  of  the  necessity  of  con- 
vincing one's-self  in  detail  of  the  sinister  strength  of  the  partner, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  construct  out  of  this  conviction  of  the 
strength  of  the  other  and  of  one's  own  weakness  an  admonishing 
bugbear.  The  real  result  of  this,  the  neurotic's  rectification  of 
boundaries,  is  a  strong  deviation  from  the  normal  path,  which 
path  he  fears  most  of  all.  The  self-degradation  thus  arranged 
now  furnishes  a  stronger  stimulus  for  the  masculine  protest  and 
enhances  it  in  line  with  the  goal-idea.  "It  must  be  night, 
where  Friedland's  stars  shine."  Now,  after  these  detours,  his 
efforts  are  again  directed  along  the  paths  of  his  neurotic  goal, 
reveal  sadistic  admixtures  and  a  strong  purification  fanaticism  in 
case  facts  or  fancies  of  a  coprophilic  nature  play  a  role.  Or  the 
patient  contents  himself  to  create  an  appearance  of  justification 
for  his  neurotic  detours  by  means  of  a  struggle  against  the  judg- 
ment of  others,  against  the  law,  or  often  by  having  recourse  to 
an  unheard  of  logic,  and  in  this  way  seeks  again  to  prove  his 
superiority.  Thus  it  is  in  the  arguments  of  inverts  who  in  the 
same  manner  owe  their  neurotic  deviation  from  normality  to 
their  fear  of  the  opposite  sex. 

The  prestige  which  it  is  sought  to  maintain,  the  masculine 
protest  is  always  shoved  into  the  foreground,  until  the  enlighten- 
ing analysis  arrives  at  that  point  where  in  the  memories  of  man 
the  neurotically  grouped  thoughts  come  to  light,  i.e.,  that  it  is 
his  inferiority,  his  underdeveloped  genitalia  which  will  hinder 
him  from  obtaining  victory  over  woman  ;  in  the  memories  of 
female  patients  this  place  is  occupied  by  the  feeling  of  inferiority, 
by  the  neurotic  terror  of  the  feminine  role.  Along  with  these 
rediscovered  trains  of  thought,  which  have  their  origin  in  the 
earliest  years  of  childhood,  one  detects  megalomanic  ideas  often 
in  the  shape  of  narcissism  and  exhibitionism.  They  are  to  be 
readily  understood  as  preparatory  attempts  at  compensation  for 
the  feeling  of  inferiority,  such  as  are  produced  by  the  compulsion 
of  the  guiding  fiction,  as  secondary  neurotic  formations  which 
say,  "  I  want  to  be  a  complete  man."  The  change  of  formula 
which  this  thought  experiences  in  girls  into  the  ideal,  "I  will 
excel  all  women  "  has  already  been  mentioned. 

I  am  able  to  present  some  of  these  relationships  in  the  case  of 
the  following  female  patient.  A  ig-year-old  girl  came  under  my 


i go  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

care  for  depression,  suicidal  ideas,  insomnia  and  incapacity  for 
work.  She  had  become  an  artist  in  order  to  have  a  profession. 
With  the  exception  of  indications  of  hereditary  tuberculosis  and 
myopia  there  were  no  discoverable  bodily  symptoms.  The 
relatives  described  her  as  formerly  an  obstinate  child  who  left 
home  because  she  wished  to  be  self-supporting.  Her  mother 
and  her  only  older  brother  died  of  tuberculosis. 

The  commencement  of  the  treatment  was  very  difficult 
because  the  patient  sat  before  me  showing  great  indifference  and 
answered  none  of  my  questions.  Only  at  times  did  she  express 
herself  with  a  negative  gesture,  or  answered  with  "  No." 

I  began  to  work  cautiously,  I  explained  to  her  that  her  in- 
difference is  identical  with  her  general  derogatory  tendency,  the 
same  being  true  of  her  continued  silence  in  my  presence,  her 
negativism,  her  "No,"  all  of  which  are  part  of  this  derogatory 
tendency  now  directed  against  me.  I  then  endeavor  to  shov* 
her  that  her  conduct  indicates  her  discontent  with  her  feminine 
role  against  which  she  seeks  to  secure  herself  in  this  manner. 
She  answers  me  constantly  with  "  No,"  which  I  disregard  as 
something  to  be  expected  and  which  is  directed  against  me,  the 
male,  and  proceed.  Her  depression  began  during  her  sojourn 
at  a  bathing  resort.  I  now  maintain  with  certainty  that  some- 
thing must  have  happened  there  which  had  released  this  <:No," 
that  is  to  say,  something  which  had  brusquely  brought  to  her 
attention  her  feminine  role.  Thereupon  she  related  that  more 
than  a  year  ago  she  had  been  at  another  resort  where  she  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  young  man,  who  was  agreeable  to  her, 
and  that  tenderness  and  kisses  had  followed.  One  evening  the 
young  man  had  fallen  upon  her  as  though  he  were  insane  and 
tried  to  approach  her  in  an  indecent  manner.  Whereupon  she 
immediately  left  the  place.  I  call  her  attention  to  the  fact  that 
she  tore  herself  away  at  the  moment  when  the  young  man 
wished  definitely  to  force  her  by  his  behaviour  into  a  feminine 
role  and  added  the  remark  that  she  must  have  undergone  a 
similar  experience  during  the  present  summer.  She  thereupon 
related  to  me  that  a  guest  at  the  resort,  whose  acquaintance 
she  had  made  a  short  time  previously,  had  conducted  himself 
towards  her  in  the  same  manner  as  the  afore-mentioned  young 
man.  She  left  the  place  just  as  she  had  done  the  previous  year. 

The  "  return  of  the  identical  "  (Nietzsche)  leads  to  the  belief 
that  the  patient  must  have  had  her  part  in  the  play  since  both 
times  she  helped  herself  out  of  the  situation  by  a  neurotic 
arrangement  so  as  to  break  off  at  the  same  moment.  In  this 
connection  the  patient  furnished  valuable  support  in  the  state- 
ment that  the  kisses  exchanged  had  not  irritated  her.  I  showed 
her  that  she  acquiesced  as  long  as  the  feminine  role  did  not  enter 
the  question.  I  explained  to  her  that  her  initial  courage  was  the 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.  191 

masculine  idea  of  conquest  in  harmony  with  her  masculine  aim. 
At  this  stage  her  insomnia  vanished.  She  communicated  this 
remarkable  improvement  in  her  condition  with  the  detracting 
remark,  that  now  she  would  like  to  sleep  day  and  night.  Those 
who,  like  myself,  have  learned  to  recognize  the  tense  aggressive- 
ness of  patients  during  the  progress  of  a  psychotherapeutic  course 
of  treatment,  an  aggressiveness  which  is  directed  against  all 
superiors,  in  this  instance  against  the  masculine  physician,  and 
who  have  thus  sharpened  their  perception  for  the  manner  in 
which  neurotics  express  themselves,  will  not  misunderstand  the 
expression  of  our  patient.  The  expression  shows  distinctly  that 
she  has  detected  the  result  of  the  treatment,  but  that  she  takes 
the  trouble  to  detract  with  a  light  touch  from  this  result  and 
hence  from  me.  She  insinuatingly  calls  my  attention  to  the 
fact  that  one  evil  has  only  been  replaced  by  another. 

More  closely  questioned  the  patient  stated  that  during  her  four 
weeks  of  insomnia  she  had  constantly  thought  during  her  wake- 
ful nights  how  worthless  life  was.  We  understand  that  she  did 
not  merely  think  of  it,  but  had  worked  at  it.  Now  when  the 
male  enemy  in  the  form  of  the  physician,  whom  she  subjects  to 
the  same  valuation  as  man  generally,  confronts  her  and  lays  bare 
her  craving  for  security  and  thus  undermines  her  effort  to  gain 
security  by  means  of  her  wakefulness,  she  tries,  when  forced  to 
sleep,  to  belittle  him  by  asserting  a  superfluity  of  sleep. 

Neurotic  insomnia  is  a  symbolic  attempt  to  escape  from  the 
defenselessness  of  sleep  and  to  keep  in  mind  the  securities 
against  beneath,  underneath.  The  dream  is  another  form  of  this 
effort,  equal  to  a  compromise,  inasmuch  as  it  covers  as  in  sleep, 
the  defenselessness  and  consequent  feeling  of  inferiority  by  the 
masculine  protest.  The  dream,  according  to  my  observation, 
always  drives  towards  security  and  has  therefore  the  function  of 
forethought.  That  this  is  accomplished  through  the  medium 
of  facts  trom  experience  is  easily  comprehensible,  and  thus  it  is 
that  in  the  dream  content  and  dream  thoughts  the  defeats  which 
one  has  experienced  come  to  light,  a  circumstance  which  has  led 
Freud  to  the  formation  of  his  heuristically  valuable  but  other- 
wise imperfect  and  one-sided  theory  of  dreams. 

After  a  prolonged  hesitation  and  after  having  her  attention 
called  to  the  negative  significance  of  her  hesitation,  the  patient 
brought  a  few  days  later  the  following  dream  :  "/  was  in  front 
of  the  '  Steinhoff  '  (Vienna's  great  insane  asylum).  I  hurry 
fast,  as  I  see  a  dark  form  within." 

In  order  to  avoid  all  artificial  influencing  of  the  patient, 
especially  in  the  interpretation  of  the  dream,  I  avoid  all 
explanations  of  my  dream  theory  and  only  refer  to  the  fact  that 
the  dream  rouses  trains  of  thoughts  which  betray  again  how  the 
patient  tries  to  secure  herself  against  sleep  which  is  felt  by  her 


192  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

to  be  a  defenseless  condition,  and  which  recalls  to  her  her 
defenselessness  in  regards  to  life.  In  cases  such  as  the  one  just 
given,  who  where  the  wish  above  all  is  to  discuss  the  fear  of  the 
feminine  role,  I  indicate  that  sleep  may  be  felt  as  a  feminine 
situation. 

The  figure  of  speech,  "  lying  in  the  arms  of  Morpheus,"  the 
frequent  sensation  of  being  paralyzed,  of  being  crushed,  the 
analysis  of  nightmares,  etc.,  and  the  feminine  trends  which  I  am 
able  to  discover  in  all  dreams,  trends  out  of  which  the  dream 
raises  itself  to  the  masculine  protest,  and  where  furthermore  the 
advent  of  sleep-banishing  consciousness  awakens  an  individual 
thought-association  suggesting  a  feminine  situation,  prove  with 
certainty  the  fact  that  every  dream  must  reveal  a  progression 
from  femininity  to  masculinity.  That  not  every  dream  is  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  convince  the  beginner  of  the  correctness  of  my 
conception,  I  have  already  emphasized.  This  arises  from  the  fact 
that  in  a  sketch,  and  we  must  regard  the  dream  as  such,  the 
sense  and  meaning  of  mere  traces  of  ideas  must  be  ferreted  out 
and  completed,  a  thing  which  is  never  difficult  for  the 
experienced.  I  teach  the  patient  that  he  must  regard  the  dream 
as  he  would  the  sketch  of  a  painting,  the  details  of  which  he  is 
obliged  to  fill  in  according  to  his  impressions. 

After  this  explanation  the  intelligent  patient  proceeded 
unassisted.  "  Steinhoff  means  insane.  This  point  indicates  that 
I  am  on  the  verge  of  insanity.  But  I  hasten  away.  Then  what 
you  always  tell  me  occurs  to  me,  I  am  running  away  from  my 
feminine  role.  Hence  becoming  insane  and  the  feminine 
role  are  the  same  thing."  I  now  lead  her  on  to  endeavor  to  force 
a  meaning  into  the  dream,  and  for  this  purpose  make  use  of  the 
patient's  spirit  of  rivalry  which  is  known  to  me,  in  order  to  excite 
her  zeal  when  difficulties  present  themselves  by  saying,  "  But 
one  certainly  ought  to  be  able  to  understand  something  under 
that  idea." 

Patient  :  "  Perhaps  that  it  would  be  insane  to  play  a  feminine 
role?  " 

I  :  "  That  would  be  an  answer  to  a  question.  What  then  must 
the  question  have  been  ?  " 

Patient  :  "  You  told  me  yesterday,  I  should  not  be  afraid  of 
my  feminine  role." 

I  :  "  Therefore  an  answer  directed  against  me,  in  line  with 
our  conversations,  a  conflict  against  the  man.  And  the  black 
figure?" 

Patient :     "  Perhaps  death  ?  " 

I  :     "  Try  now  to  fit  death  into  the  situation." 

This  was  difficult  for  the  patient,  although  it  is  wholly  clear 
that  she  has  taken  the  fear  of  death  as  a  figure  for  her  flight 
from  the  feminine  role,  in  order  to  present  it  in  a  sufficiently 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.  193 

strong  manner.  The  connection  of  sexuality  and  death  is  often 
spoken  of  in  philosophy  and  poetry.  The  analysis  of  neurotics 
often  indicate  this  connection  in  the  sense  of  an  affect- 
accentuating  "  conditional  proposition." 

The  sense  of  the  dream  is  now  shown  to  be  an  expedient 
directed  against  the  physician,  which  with  our  knowledge  of  the 
patient's  phantasy-life  should  be  made  to  read  :  "It  would  be 
insane  to  submit  to  a  man, — equal  to  death."  But  according  to 
her  estimation,  she  had  already  submitted  by  the  fact  that  she 
had  slept  since  the  beginning  of  the  treatment.  This  dream 
therefore  revolts  against  sleep,  and  her  derogatory  remark  that 
she  would  now  like  to  sleep  day  and  night,  is  in  line  with  this. 
Therefore  the  neurotic  predispositions  of  this  patient  against  the 
possibility  of  a  man  winning  influence  over  her  is  laid  bare,  and 
it  is  shown  that  the  patient  acted  and  dreamed  as  though  she 
were  conscious  of  her  guiding  purpose.1 

This  essential  predisposition,  her  tendency  to  detract,  her 
longing  for  victory  over  men  and  her  neurotic  craving  for 
security,  which  stands  menacing  in  the  background  with  the 
terror  of  death  and  insanity,  had  also  caused  the  development 
of  the  neurosis  as  a  strengthened  security.  Through  it  the 
patient  is  unfitted  for  life.  The  neurotic  apperception,  whicR 
conjures  up  a  connection  between  love,  insanity  and  death  has 
something  of  the  ring  of  poetry.  How  firmly  fixed  this  is  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  patient  is  shown  in  her  first  account  :  the  young 
man  had  fallen  upon  her  as  though  he  were  insane. 

It  is  often  learned  from  the  anamneses  of  male  neurotics  that 
they  had  been  under  the  influence  of  a  strong  woman,  mother, 
teacher,  sister,  who  therefore,  instead  of  their  feminine  role  or 
in  addition  thereto,  played  a  masculine  one,  were  above,  and  to 
whom  the  environment  did  not  deny  recognition,  sometimes  even 
disapprobation,  showing  that  they  were  really  regarded  as  men. 
This  circumstance  also  often  tends  to  strengthen  the  uncertainty 
of  the  neurotically  disposed  child,  who  tries  to  arrive  at  a 
conviction  of  his  manliness  by  understanding  the  sexual 
differences.  Especially  when  one  endeavors  to  gain  security 
through  knowledge  a  certain  sex  inquisitiveness  forces  him  to 
constantly  seek  visual  confirmation  of  his  sexual  superiority,  a 
necessity  of  obtaining  definite  knowledge  and  full  comprehension 
of  the  female  organs  which  approaches  the  masculine  guiding  line 
more  nearly,  in  proportion  as  it  is  created  out  of  preparations 
for  the  future. 

His  pathological  uncertainty  adheres  to  the  neurotic  as  a 
pretext  and  confirmation  of  his  fear  of  woman  even  after  he  is 
married,  so  that  the  expression  is  often  heard,  that  the  feminine 

1  Richard  Warner's  genius-like  intuition  in  the  song  of  Erda.     "  My  life 
is  dreaming,  my  dreaming  is  thinking,  my  thinking  the  control  of  knowledge." 


194  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

/ 

sexual  apparatus,  the  condition  of  virginity,  legitimacy  of 
children,  fatherhood,  is  a  mystery  just  as  a  woman  herself  is. 
Along  with  this  desire  to  obtain  satisfaction  through  visual 
perception  of  the  female  organs,  there  is  at  times  associated  in, 
neurotically  disposed  children  a  sort  of  sinister  feeling  of  danger, 
as  though  obscure  thoughts  arose  in  the  mind  of  the  boy,  that  his 
future  life,  his  victory  or  defeat  were  dependent  upon  the  solution 
he  has  reached  concerning  the  sexual  question.  It  is  in  the 
nature  of  things,  that  frequently  the  opportunity  for  this  sort 
of  visual  confirmation  is  only  offered  when  the  woman  occupies 
a  position  above  the  boy.  Even  this  small  circumstance  forms,  as 
I  have  repeatedly  stated,  a  figurative  representation  of  the 
feminine  superiority  in  the  phantasy  of  the  neurotic  individual 
who  stands  in  fear  of  woman.  Ganghofer  and  Stendhal  give 
accounts  in  the  history  of  their  childhood  of  these  terrifying 
experiences  which,  it  is  thought,  left  behind  permanent  traces. 
The  terror  was  in  itself  already  a  security  of  the  injured  masculine 
prestige,  and  the  exciting  scene  remained  as  an  admonition,  to 
be  understood  figuratively,  of  caution  in  regard  to  women. 
Frequently  the  derogatory  tendency  sets  in  at  the  point  where 
the  superiority  of  woman  assumes  a  threatening  aspect  and  leads 
to  a  comparison  of  male  and  female  advantages  and 
disadvantages.  The  abstract  and  figurative  representation  of 
the  inferiority  of  woman,  in  dreams,  phantasies,  wit  and  science, 
frequently  resorts  to  the  mode  of  expression  of  a  lost  member, 
of  supernumerary  cavities.  One  of  my  patients  who  suffered 
from  vertigo  had  a  dream  one  time  following  an  unusually  stormy 
scene  with  his  wife  which  summarily  and  essentially  brought 
about  a  degradation  of  his  domineering  wife. 

"  The  picture  of  a  birch  trunk  emerged.  At  one  point  there 
was  a  branch  with  a  round  swelling.  There  a  twig  had  fallen 
off  and  I  had  the  impression  as  though  this  was  a  female  genital 
organ." 

I  have  already  discussed  such  dreams,  as  have  others  also. 
To  me  such  dreams  represent  figuratively  the  question 
concerning  the  differences  of  sex,  which  is  answered  after  the 
manner  of  children  that  the  girl  is  a  boy  who  has  been  deprived 
of  the  male  organ.  The  above  dream  fits  into  the  psychic 
situation  of  the  dreamer,  inasmuch  as  it  reveals  the  thought,  ' '  I 
am  a  man  who  has  been  deprived  of  manliness,  who  is  weak  and 
ill,  who  is  in  danger  of  being  under,  of  falling  beneath."  Now 
he  has  the  basis  of  operation,  he  beholds  his  prestige  diminished 
and  takes  breath,  for  the  effort  again  to  regain  power.  The 
masculine  protest  now  sets  in  in  waking  hours  as  tyranny,  out- 
breaks of  rage  and  acts  of  infidelity. 

It  might  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  that  one  often  hears 
from  neurotics  that  in  moments  of  personal  danger  or  when  they 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.  195 

are  threatened  with  defeat,  they  perceive  a  shortening  or 
contraction  of  the  genitals,  at  times  also  a  feeling  of  pain  which 
forcibly  impels  them  to  a  termination  of  the  situation.3  These 
phenomena  most  frequently  accompany  states  of  anxiety  in  high 
places  where  there  is  fear  of  falling.  The  shortening  of  the 
genitals  in  the  bath  nearly  always  causes  a  reaction  in  the 
neurotic  individual.  He  feels  out  of  sorts  and  at  times  experiences 
pressure  in  the  head. 

I  have  already  emphasized  that  homosexuality  as  a  tendency 
and  behavior  is  the  result  of  the  fear  of  the  opposite  sex.  In 
addition  it  may  be  briefly  mentioned  that  the  over-valuation  of 
the  homosexual  partner  serves  also  to  raise  the  neurotic  invert 
in  his  own  estimation.  In  neuroses  homosexuality  even  when 
carried  into  practice  is  always  found  to  be  a  symbol  by  means  of 
which  it  is  sought  to  place  the  individual's  own  superiority 
beyond  question.  This  mechanism  is  similar  to  that  of  a 
religious  psychosis  in  which  the  nearness  of  God  has  the  signi- 
ficance of  an  elevation. 

One  of  the  forms  which  the  fear  of  woman  is  especially  likely 
to  take  is  syphilophobia.  The  train  of  thought  of  such  phobists 
(Adler,  syphilidophobia,  1.  c.)  is  usually  the  following  :  They 
fear  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  play  a  dominating  part  in  regard 
to  woman  because  of  some  feeling  of  inferiority,  for  which  they 
have  ready  all  sorts  of  foundations,  at  times  without  conscious 
motivation.  In  this  manner,  following  the  increasing  trend  to 
belittle  woman,  they  arrive  at  suspicious  trains  of  thought  which 
are  to  secure  them  against  sexual  relations.  Sometimes  woman  is 
a  riddle,  sometimes  a  criminal  being,  always  thinking  of  adorn- 
ment and  expense  and  sexually  insatiable.  The  suspicions 
constantly  arise  that  a  girl  is  only  hunting  for  support,  is  bent  on 
capturing  the  man,  is  crafty  and  cunning  and  always  bent  on 
evil.  These  trains  of  thought  are  universal  and  are  found  at  all 
periods  of  history.  They  emerge  in  the  most  sublime  and  the 
lowest  creations  of  art,  have  ,a  place  in  the  thoughts  and  efforts 
of  the  wisest,  and  create  in  man  and  in  society  a  constant 
predisposition  which  develops  suspicious  and  cautious  traits,  in 
order  to  always  keep  in  touch  with  the  enemy  and  to  be  in  good 
time  for  the  defense  against  knavish  attacks.  It  is  an  error  to 
think  that  it  is  only  the  man  who  harbors  distrust  of  his  sexual 
partner.  The  same  trait  is  found  also  in  the  woman,  often  less 
distinct  in  character,  when  fictions  of  her  own  strength  put  a 
check  to  the  doubt  of  her  own  value,  but  flashing  up  most 
strongly,  when  the  feeling  of  degradation  becomes  overpowering. 

In  the  disputes  of  pious  savants  of  the  middle  ages,  questions 

a  At  times  this  feeling  of  pressure  extends  to  the  abdomen,  to  the  oretist 
and  Ihe  cardiac  region — or  affects  only  these  regions,  at  times  pollutions  take 
place  as  reactive  symbols  of  the  masculine  goal. 


196  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

arose  as  to  whether  woman  had  a  soul,  whether  she  was  a  human 
being,  and  the  general  prevalence  of  similar  thoughts  is  reflected 
in  the  insane  burning  of  witches  in  the  centuries  following  to 
which  government,  church  and  the  blinded  populace  lent  a  hand. 
This  detraction  from  women  in  hate  as  well  as  in  love  which 
recurs  constantly  in  Christian,  Jewish  and  Mohammedan  religious 
usages,  break  out  irresistibly  in  the  timorous,  uncertain  man 
and  so  completely  fills  the  world  of  thought  of  the  neurotic,  that 
the  most  accentuated  trait  of  character  in  the  neurotic  psyche  is 
found  to  be  the  tendency  to  detract  from  the  sexual  partner. 
Thus  the  outposts  which  offer  security  to  the  ego-consciousness 
become  established  and  the  peculiar  play  of  the  neurotic  traits 
of  character  begins.  Continuous  testing,  feeling,  attempts  to 
subjugate,  to  find  fault  with  and  to  degrade  the  partner  set  in, 
always  favored  by  the  fact  that  attention  and  interest  is  directed 
to  a  single  purpose,  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  enemy  and  to 
prevent  a  surprise.  As  long  as  the  tendency  to  detraction  with 
its  outward  expressions,  distrust,  fear,  jealousy,  tyranny  exists 
there  is  no  hope  of  a  cure  of  the  neurotic.  As  we  have  seen 
worthy  creations  of  art  and  literature  which  have  received 
recognition  on  all  sides  owe  their  origin  to  this  tendency.  From 
the  "  Lysistrata  "  to  the  "  kreuzel  writers  "  leads  the  same  path 
as  from  the  Gorgo  Medusa  to  the  Syphilis  fad,  which  arose  before 
the  eyes  of  Lenans  or  Ganghofer.  The  guiding  line  which 
prevails  in  Tolstoi's  Kreutzer  Sonata  and  which  strives  after  the 
degradation  of  woman  was  perceptible  even  in  his  boyhood  when 
he  shoved  his  future  bride  out  of  the  window.  An  old  guiding 
line  which  is  revealed  in  the  myth  of  the  poison-girl '  of  antiquity, 
in  the  middle  ages  and  in  the  beginning  of  modern  times  in  the 
fear  of  witches,  demons,  vampires  and  sprites  has  undergone  a 
•change  of  form  and  has  become  the  syphilophobia  of  to-day. 
Poggio  relates  of  a  man  who  had  violated  a  girl.  The  girl 
changed  into  a  devil  and  vanished  with  a  stench. 

All  these  trains  of  thought  returning  in  the  same  manner  as 
they  do  in  the  dream  and  in  the  psyche  of  the  neurotic,  reveal 
the  cautious  man,  doubtful  of  his  manliness,  who  seeks  to  secure 
himself  from  real  life  just  as  much  by  the  setting  up  of  scarecrows 
as  by  the  fear  he  has  of  this  life  itself,  because  of  the  veneration 
of  an  ideal. 

The  bantering  note  in  such  an  attitude  toward  woman  is  of 
little  significance  in  so  far  as  our  view  is  concerned.  It  shows 
moreover  an  effort  to  be  guilty  of  no  exaggeration,  to  preserve 
decorum  and  to  save  one's  self  from  ridicule  by  a  spirit  of  wit. 
The  case  is  similar  to  that  of  Gogol  whose  strong  craving  for 
security  is  perceptible  in  every  vein  of  his  poetry.  In  his 

3    Wilhelm    Hertz,    "The    Myth    of   the    Poison-girl."       Abh.    d.    bayer 
Akademic  der  WissenBchaften,  1897. 


THE  FEAR  OF  THE  PARTNER,  ETC.     197 

'  Jahrmarkt  von  Sorotschinsk  *  he  makes  a  character  say, 
"Lord  in  heaven,  why  dost  thou  punish  us  poor  sinners  so? 
There  is  already  so  much  trouble,  why  didst  thou  also  send 
women  into  the  world?  "  In  the  "  Dead  Souls"  of  this  great 
poet,  who  was  neurotic  during  his  entire  life,  suffered  from 
compulsory  masturbation  and  died  in  a  mad  house,  he  makes  his 
hero  reflect  on  seeing  a  young  girl  : 

"  A  superb  little  woman  !  The  best  about  her  is  that  she 
seems  to  have  just  come  out  of  a  boarding  school  or  institute  and 
as  yet  has  none  of  those  special  feminine  traits  that  disfigure 
the  whole  sex.  She  is  still  a  pure  child,  everything  about  her 
is  straightforward  and  simple  ;  she  speaks  from  her  heart  and 
laughs  when  she  feels  like  it.  All  possibilities  lie  in  her  nature  ; 
she  may  become  a  superb  creature  but  she  may  become  a  stunted 
being  and  that  will  probably  be  the  result  when  the  aunts  and 
mammas  set  themselves  to  educate  her.  They  will  stuff  her  so 
full  of  their  woman's  nonsense  in  a  year  that  her  own  father 
would  no  longer  recognize  her.  She  will  acquire  a  pompous  and 
affected  nature,  will  turn  and  move  and  courtesy  according  to 
rules  learned  by  heart,  rack  her  brains  over  the  questions,  what 
to  say,  how  much  to  say,  and  with  whom  to  speak,  and  how  she 
shall  look  at  her  cavalier,  etc.,  she  will  constantly  be  in  the 
greatest  anxiety  lest  she  may  have  spoken  some  superfluous 
word,  and  finally  will  no  longer  know  what  she  ought  to  do  and 
will  go  wandering  through  life,  a  great  lie.  Fie  !  the  devil  !  — 
For  the  rest  I  would  like  to  know,  of  what  sort  she  is  !" 

4  From  O.  Kaus,  "The  Case  of  Gogol,"  Munchen,  Reinhardt,  1912. 


CHAPTER    IX 

SELF-REPROACHES,  SELF-TORTURE,  CONTRITION  AND  ASCETICISM, 
FLAGELLATION,  NEUROSES  IN  CHILDREN  ;  SUICIDE  AND 
SUICIDAL  IDEAS 

UNDER  the  forms  of  the  neurotic  lines  of  conduct  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  the  masculine  protest,  trends  of  self-execration,  self- 
reproach,  self-torture  and  suicide  appear  in  marked  accentuation. 
Our  astonishment  loses  in  force  as  soon  as  we  see  that  the  whole 
arrangement  of  the  neurosis  follows  the  trait  of  self-torture,  that 
the  neurosis  is  a  self-torturing  expedient  whose  purpose  it  is  to 
enhance  the  feeling  of  personal  esteem.  In  fact,  the  first  stirrings 
of  the  aggressive  tendency  which  is  directed  against  the 
individual's  own  person,  originate  in  the  child  from  a  situation 
in  which  the  child  through  disease,  death,  shame  and  all  sorts 
of  constructed  deficiencies  seeks  to  prepare  pain  for  the  parents 
or  to  keep  himself  in  their  mind.  This  trait  already  characterizes 
the  neurotically  disposed  child  who  has  formed  expedients  out  of 
the  reminiscences  of  the  phenomena  of  somatic  inferiority  and 
out  of  their  significance  for  the  maximation  of  the  ego-conscious- 
ness, for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  tenderness  and  interest  of 
the  parents.  The  developed  neurosis  builds  up  these  expedients 
and  introduces  their  activity  through  a  reinforcement  of  the 
fiction,  as  soon  as  this  is  demanded  by  the  growing  feeling  of 
insecurity.  It  is  well  known  how  strong  exacerbations  take  a 
hand  in  this,  how  the  hallucinatory  character,  the  anticipatory 
force  of  the  neurotic  assists  in  this  and  how  the  situation  of  the 
attack  and  the  disturbances  of  health  with  the  resultant 
dominancy  over  the  environment  takes  place.  Paradoxical  as 
it  may  seem  at  first  glance  the  neurotic  is  only  at  peace  when 
he  has  an  attack  behind  him.  Janet  has  already  called  attention 
to  this  fact ;  I  can  only  add  as  the  basis  for  it  that  it  is  because 
he  has  then  gained  the  security  of  his  superiority,  if  only  for  a 
short  time. 

The  trait  of  character  of  wishing  to  excel  all  others  is  also 
contained  in  the  feeling  to  which  the  neurotic  constantly  gives 
expression,  that  he  excels  all  others  in  pain.  He  uses  this 
conviction  because  it  furnishes  him  with  a  basis  of  operation  for 
feeling  himself  in  opposition  to  others,  for  avoiding  a  decision  or 
for  making  an  attack.  Thus  it  happens  also  that  attacks,  pains, 
or  a  disease  are  wished  for,  when  the  situation  demands  it. 
Sometimes  the  wish  alone  serves  the  purpose  of  an  attack,  when 

198 


SELF-REPROACHES,    SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.     199 

as  a  reminder  it  already  terrifies  the  environment.  For  the 
patient's  own  psyche  it  is  at  times  sufficient,  as  a  female  patient 
once  told  me,  if  a  phantasy  is  formed  as  result  of  which  the 
neurotic  suffers  pain  through  the  acts  of  another.  This  brings 
about  the  feeling  of  suppression  or  mistreatment,  awakens  the 
craving  for  security  and  introduces  the  masculine  protest. 

The  significance  of  the  feeling  of  guilt,  of  the  conscience  and 
self-reproaches  as  forms  of  security-giving  fictions  has  already 
been  described.  Not  rarely  one  finds  in  the  psychology  of 
masturbation  an  admixture  of  traits  of  atonement  and  of  a  desire 
to  harm,  the  latter  to  be  likened  to  an  obstinate  revolt  against 
the  parents,  the  former  as  a  cheap  pretext  or  sanctimonious  act. 

The  injuring  of  others  through  atonement  is  one  of  the  most 
subtle  expedients  of  the  neurotic,  for  example  when  he  launches 
forth  in  self-curses.  Ideas  of  suicide  often  reveal  the  same 
mechanism,  which  is  clearly  seen  in  joint  suicides.  When  one 
of  my  patients  was  treated  by  another  physician  with  cold  douches 
for  impotence,  he  expressed  the  wish  ' '  that  the  physician  might 
tear,  injure  his  genitals."  When  two  years  before  he  had  suffered 
great  losses  in  business  he  wished  to  commit  suicide,  although  he 
was  still  a  rich  man.  The  motive  force  of  these  execrations 
(v.  Shylock)  is  neurotic  avarice.  The  analysis  offers  a  complete 
explanation.  In  order  to  protect  himself  from  expenses  for  girls 
he  execrates  himself  also  when  he  is  obliged  to  pay  physicians' 
fees.  This  is  certainly  accompanied  by  a  half  conscious  feeling 
that  his  wishes  need  not  be  absolutely  fulfilled.  He  execrates 
especially  his  levfty,  for  this  is  the  meaning  of  his  self- 
reproaches  and  execrations,  when  he  has  paid  a  large  account 
or  ought  to  pay  one.  Then  every  small  expense  disturbs  him. 

He  fears  the  charm  of  sexuality.  Even  his  own  sister  he  would 
like  to  throw  into  misfortune,  or  his  sister's  daughter,  both  of 
whom  lived  with  him.  At  the  same  time  he  must  have  estimated 
his  execrations  as  of  very  little  importance  or  perhaps  even 
expected  the  opposite.  This  is  shown  by  the  great  number  of  his 
measures  for  security,  among  which  the  self-execrations  only 
played  an  insignificant  part.  He  secures  himself  to  a  much 
greater  extent  through  the  arrangement  of  impotence.  Self- 
detraction  and  self-torture  our  patient  constructed  in  the  same 
manner  as  hypochondria,  in  order  to  hold  before  his  eyes  the 
feeling  of  his  own  inferiority,  to  feel  himself  too  weak,  too  small, 
too  unworthy.  They  appear  as  hindrances  and  in  this  way  take 
the  place  of  doubts.  Neurotic  girls  who  fear  the  man,  who  do 
not  wish  to  play  a  feminine  r61e,  worry  constantly  over  their 
growth  of  hair,  their  birth  marks  and  fear  their  children  might  be 
similarly  deformed.  In  many  cases  they  were  homely  children 
or  were  slighted  for  a  preferred  brother  when  they  were  small 
girls.  In  one  of  my  female  patients  with  a  compulsion  neurosis, 


200  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

her  compulsory  thought  was  revealed  as  belief  in  an  enlargement 
of  the  pores  of  her  skin,  to  be  understood  symbolically  as  a 
security  against  the  feminine  role.  Another  form  of  self-torture 
is  manifested  in  the  tendency  to  atonements.  They  may  be 
recognized  as  simple  cravings  for  security  when  it  is  taken  into 
consideration  that  these  patients  seek  just  as  little  as  those  with 
the  allied  feeling  of  remorse  for  the  past,  to  change  or  better 
things  in  the  future. 

The  symptom  clearly  aims  at  the  future,  and  this  just  as  much 
when  it  reveals  itself  as  of  personal  emotion  in  individual  form  and 
conduct  as  when  it  is  revealed  socially  in  religious  performances. 
As  in  all  forms  of  craving  for  security,  in  this  case  too,  it  is  not 
at  all  excluded  that  recently  experienced  evil  thoughts  and  acts 
come  to  light.  Its  purpose  is  to  become  effective  as  a  restraining 
admonition  and  to  serve  as  proof  of  the  worthy  intentions  of  the 
one  concerned.  Not  last  of  all  in  this  self-inspection  is  the 
impulse  to  atonement  and  the  emphasis  of  inner  good  qualities 
wherein  the  contrast  to  other  people  is  always  thought  of,  so 
much  so,  that  the  tendency  to  atonement  and  remorse  at  times 
betrays  a  strongly  antagonistic,  intractable,  inimical  note.  The 
epidemic  character  of  acts  of  atonement  is  scarcely  ever  without 
this  pomp,  people  vie  with  each  other  in  crying  out,  weeping, 
in  self-torture  and  contrition. 

The  possibility  therefore  of  gaining  a  feeling  of  superiority  by 
means  of  fasting  and  praying,  wearing  of  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
etc.,  will  have  a  charm  for  weak  souls  as  soon  as  they  have  the 
inclination  to  appear  pious  and  good,  religious  and  sublime.  And 
asceticism  will  lead  to  an  elevation  when  it  is  felt  as  a  triumph, 
in  my  sense,  as  a  masculine  protest.  That  in  all  this  there  is 
only  an  arbitrary  valuation,  in  which  frequently  the  contrast  to 
otherwise  superior  people  is  taken  as  the  point  of  departure,  is 
revealed  in  the  counterparts  to  the  God-fearing  type,  in  atheists, 
militant  freethinkers  and  iconoclasts  who  seek  to  demonstrate 
their  superiority  in  the  same  manner  as  the  former.  Lichtenberg's 
expression  is  to  be  understood  in  this  sense  when  he  remarks, 
how  rare  are  the  people  who  live  up  to  the  principles  of  their 
religion,  and  how  numerous  those  who  fight  for  them.  The 
conversion  from  militant  freethinking  to  orthodoxy  is  not  rare 
as  is  also  not  rare  the  conversion  from  Epicurianism  to 
Asceticism. 

Along  with  this  craving  for  security  by  means  of  atonement  the 
masculine  protest  plays  a  role  as  a  guide  which  should  not  be 
underestimated.  But  one  must  still  keep  in  sight  the  building 
material,  the  possibilities  dormant  in  the  psyche,  of  which  it 
makes  use  in  order  to  reach  expression.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
along  with  this,  acts  and  thoughts  of  self-subjection  come  to  light, 
that  is,  masochistic  elements,  which  according  to  our  way  of 


SELF-REPROACHES,    SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.     201 

looking  at  the  subject  are  estimated  as  feminine  elements  of  the 
masculine  psyche.  How  incompatible  these  are  with  the 
consciousness  of  mankind  and  the  fact  that  they  constantly 
demand  a  change  of  direction  in  the  masculine  protest,  that 
therefore,  they  are  pseudo-masochistic  phenomena,  is  seen  from 
the  fact  that  this  subjection  is  connected  with  a  soaring,  an 
elevation.  The  lines  of  force  also  in  this  case  were  from  below 
upwards  because  the  person  who  has  made  atonement  feels  him- 
self elevated  or  cleansed,  he  speaks  with  his  God,  he  comes  nearer 
to  him  than  others,  than  at  other  times,  and  "  joy  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  awaits  him." 

One  of  my  patients  "punished  herself"  after  the  death  of  her 
mother,  72  years  of  age,  with  whom  she  had  always  lived  at 
strife  and  to  whom  she  would  have  been  justified  in  making 
reproaches,  by  deep  feelings  of  remorse  because  of  her 
indifference  for  her  mother,  and  by  sleeplessness.  Her  feelings 
of  remorse  had  the  character  of  compulsory  thoughts  and 
compulsory  acts.  The  analysis  showed  that  she  wished  to  prove 
her  normal  superiority  over  a  sister.  The  sister  was  married, 
while  our  patient  was  tempted  to  enter  into  a  liaison  with  a 
married  man  which  experience  she  felt  as  a  degradation.  She 
was,  therefore,  according  to  her  own  opinion  degraded  in  contrast 
to  her  sister.  On  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  her  mother  the 
masculine  protest  gave  rise  to  a  situation  which  again  brought 
her  uppermost,  namely,  her  stronger  grief  for  the  sad  event. 

In  the  history  of  civilization  as  in  the  neurosis,  the  tendency  to 
atonement  not  rarely  degenerates  in  scourging,  flagellation,  etc. 
From  the  confessions  of  Rousseau  and  from  private  communi- 
cations of  healthy  as  well  as  neurotic  individuals,  and  furthermore 
from  good  observations  of  the  behavior  of  children,  as  for  example 
B.  Asnaurow's,  we  know  that  in  certain  individuals  blows  are 
capable  of  arousing  sexual  excitations.  This  is  the  real, 
somatically  perceptible  moment  which  exists  in  the  makeup  of 
these  individuals  and  which  determines  the  choice  of  .a  particular 
form  of  atonement.  Patients  have  told  me  that  in  their  childhood 
they  experienced  pleasure  from  blows  on  their  buttocks,  though 
it  was  terrible  to  them  to  be  beaten.  In  the  later  life  of  these 
neurotics  flagellation  analogously  with  masturbation  and  all  other 
forms  of  perversions  is  the  visible  expression  of  the  fear  of  the 
opposite  partner.  I  am  indebted  to  a  patient  for  the  following 
communication.  She  had  come  under  my  care  for  severe 
migraine.  Several  years  before  the  onset  of  the  treatment  she 
was  subject  to  day-phantasies  in  which  she  saw  herself  detected 
in  an  act  of  infidelity  and  punished  by  a  man  to  whom  she  thought 
herself  married  but  who  did  not  resemble  her  real  husband.  As 
a  sequel  to  this  phantasy  there  followed  a  severe  self-scourging 

P 


202  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

until  she  fell  exhausted.  This  flagellation  brought  about  intense 
sexual  emotions.  The  analysis  revealed  that  this  woman  hated 
her  husband,  a  neurotic  hatred,  and  in  this  hatred  would  have 
readily  committed  an  act  of  infidelity  in  order  to  humiliate  him 
thereby.  Now  she  has  gotten  to  be  too  old  to  be  of  any  worth  in 
sex  matters,  while  in  former  years  she  was  hindered  by  the 
masculine  protest.  For  a  short  time  before  she  thought  of 
flagellation,  she  played  with  phantasies  of  infidelity,  but  not 
without  securing  herself  against  a  realization.  The  detection  by 
the  husband,  the  flagellation  and  consequent  auto-erotic 
gratification,  all  of  this  had  its  origin  in  the  anticipatory  craving 
for  security  and  is  but  a  play  of  phantasy  which  emphasizes  in 
an  especially  strong  manner  the  fear  of  the  man.  The  substitution 
of  her  husband  by  another  is  the  result  of  her  derogatory  tendency 
and  equivalent  to  her  wishes  of  infidelity,  her  husband  is  to  be 
humiliated,  another  would  be  preferred  in  his  stead.  Continuing, 
she  disavows  this  plausible  assumption  through  an  act  of  infidelity 
to  this  other  one.  In  the  course  of  years  she  gave  up  this 
flagellation.  The  derogatory  tendency,  however,  is  directed 
more  vehemently  against  her  husband  as  well  as  against  all  man- 
kind. She  developed  migraine  as  soon  as  she  feared  that  she 
was  losing  hold  of  her  domineering  role  over  anyone.  Her 
disease  succeeded  too  in  enabling  her  to  withdraw  completely 
from  society.  Within  her  family  circle  she  was  absolute  mistress 
as  a  result  of  her  illness.  She  succeeded  also  in  degrading  in  a 
large  measure  her  various  family  physicians,  inasmuch  as  her 
migraine  remained  unimproved  in  spite  of  all  their  treatment. 
Even  morphine  failed  in  its  effect,  and  I  might  recommend  that 
a  perverse  reaction  to  this  remedy  in  any  case  should  receive 
special  attention.  I  mention  incidentally,  as  a  supplement  to  the 
termination  of  the  treatment,  that  she  also  placed  great  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  my  form  of  therapy  and  for  a  long  time  sought  to 
expose  me  by  retaining  her  pain  even  when  openly  flattering 
me.  Patients  recover  as  soon  as  they  understand  that  this  motive 
of  adhering  to  their  disease  is  for  the  purpose  of  humiliating  the 
physician. 

Incidentally,  I  will  refer  to  the  fact  that  according  to  my 
experience,  "  religious  insanity,"  phantasies  and  hallucinations 
of  God,  heaven  and  the  saints,  as  well  as  the  feeling  of  being 
crushed  are  to  be  understood  as  infantile  megalomanic  ideas  of 
these  patients  and  as  an  expression  of  their  feeling  of  superiority 
over  their  environment.  There  is  often  connected  with  this  a 
hostile  feeling  against  the  environment,  as  is  the  case  when  a 
catatonic  permits  himself  to  be  commanded  by  God  to  give  his 
attendant  a  box  on  the  ear  or  to  overturn  a  bed  or  a  table,  or 
when  he  tries  to  compel  his  Jewish  relatives  to  submit  to 
baptism.  The  soaring  in  maniacs,  the  dements'  grandiose  ideas 


SELF-REPROACHES,    SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.     203 

are  parallel  phenomena  and  indicate  the  buried  feeling  of 
humiliation  which  demands  over-compensation  in  the  psychosis.1 

In  practice  physicians  often  come  across  children  who 
aggravate  symptoms  and  simulate  in  order  to  escape  oppression 
at  the  hands  of  their  parents.  How  closely  these  phenomena 
border  on  unfaithfulness  without  entirely  coinciding  with  it  is 
self-apparent.  Remarkable,  however,  is  the  concomitant 
manifestation  of  signs  of  somatic  inferiority,  as  well  as  the 
emergence  of  the  neurotic  character-development,  and  hence  the 
neurotic  disposition.  As  examples,  three  cases  of  observations 
of  neurotic  children  are  given. 

A  seven  years  old  girl  came  under  my  care  for  periodical 
attacks  of  gastric  pain  and  nausea.  We  found  a  frail,  poorly 
developed  child  who  suffered  from  struma  cystica,  adenoids  and 
enlarged  tonsils.  Her  voice  had  a  hoarse  intonation.  Upon 
inquiry  her  mother  stated  that  the  child  often  suffered  from 
catarrhal  troubles  accompanied  by  a  cough,  which  were  unusually 
protracted,  as  well  as  from  protracted  attacks  of  dyspepsia.  Her 
present  complaint  had  existed  about  a  half  year,  without  any 
demonstrable  organic  affection.  Along  with  this  her  appetite 
and  bowel  functions  remained  normal.  The  gastric  pains  had 
developed  since  the  girl  began  attending  school.  Her  progress 
in  school  was  an  excellent  one,  but  the  teacher  had  repeatedly 
expressed  wonder  over  the  striking  ambitiousness  of  the  child. 
She  was  very  sensitive  about  admonitions  and  felt  herself  slighted 
for  a  sister  who  was  three  and  one-half  years  her  junior.  What 
especially  attracted  her  mother's  attention  was  a  definite 
lengthening  of  the  clitoris,  one  of  the  genital  anomalies,  the 
importance  of  which  as  a  sign  of  inferiority  I  have  already 
emphasized  here,  and  which  was  later  on  discovered  by  Bartel 
and  Kyrle  and  emphasized  by  them  as  very  characteristic.  Her 
skin  was  everywhere  hypersensitive,  and  the  tickling  reflex 
noticeably  accentuated.  The  child  frequently  asked  to  be  tickled. 
The  child's  anxiousness  exceeded  the  normal.  The  irregularity 
of  the  incisors  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  further  indication  of  a 
somatic  inferiority,  which  points  to  a  defect  of  the  gastro- 
intestinal tract.  The  pharyngeal  reflex  was  definitely  exaggerated. 

One  gains  the  impression  from  this  ensemble  of  phenomena, 
that  the  reflex  activity  of  the  alimentary  canal  was  likewise 
exaggerated.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  child  had  vomited  frequently 
during  the  first  three  years  of  her  life.  The  frequent  dyspeptic 
attacks  likewise  indicate  an  inferiority  of  the  gastro-intestinal 
tract.  Along  with  this  she  had  suffered  for  about  a  year  from 

1  Paul  Bjerre  ("  Zur  Kadicalbehandlurig  der  chronischen  Paranoia,"  Wien 
und  Liepzig,  Deuticke,  1912)  was  the  first  to  describe  in  a  convincing  manner 
the  sisniificance  of  the  masculine  protest  and  of  the  craving  for  security  in  the 
psychosis . 


204  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

eczema  of  the  buttocks, — at  the  termination  of  the  inferior 
alimentary  canal,  with  itching  which  lasted  for  several  months 
and  which  was  cured  by  the  family  physician  by  means  of 
suggestion  and  with  the  assistance  of  a  neutral  salve. 

The  painful  pressure  in  the  stomach  proved  to  be  a  psychic 
reflex  which  set  in  whenever  the  child  feared  a  humiliation  at 
school  or  at  home.* 

The  purpose  of  this  reflex  which  had  been  constructed  on  the 
basis  of  somatic  inferiority  lay  in  the  effort  to  avoid  punishment 
and  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  somewhat  harsh  mother  who 
preferred  the  younger  girl.  After  the  inner  perception  of  this 
heightened  reflex  activity,  there  was  obviously  fixation  and 
aggravation  as  soon  as  the  child  sought  a  guiding  idea  which  she 
could  use  for  the  purpose  of  maximating  her  ego-consciousness. 
On  account  of  the  brevity  of  the  treatment  I  was  able  to  discover 
no  spontaneous  expressions  of  traces  of  ideas  concerning  a  future 
gravidity,  as  the  anticipated  destiny  of  a  feminine  role.  The 
attacks  vanished  after  a  short  time,  after  I  had  explained  the 
connection  to  the  child.  A  dream  after  one  of  these  attacks 
points  in  the  above  described  direction.  She  dreamed  : 

"My  friend  was  below.     Then  we  played  with  each  other." 

Her  friend  was  a  preferred  rival  in  the  school.  Conflicts  often 
resulted,  without  blows  however.  She  lived  on  the  floor  above 
and  they  always  played  in  the  apartment  of  the  patient.  But  the 
form  of  expression  in  the  dream  she  related  was  sufficiently 
remarkable.  WEen  I  asked  this  intelligent  child  if  one  would  say 
"  her  friend  was  below  "  when  the  person  who  related  the  story 
was  playing  with  her,  she  corrected  herself  immediately,  and 
said  "  she  was  with  me."  But  we  will  assume  that  the  form  of 
expression  is  right  and  the  accent  is  on  the  "below,"  then 
behind  this  is  concealed  the  thought  that  the  rival  was  under  the 
ambitious  patient  as  in  a  conflict.  "  The  friend  was  below  " 
then  means  "  I  was  above,"  a  conception  as  result  of  which  we 
are  able  to  define  the  standpoint  of  the  patient.  The  "then" 
also  points  in  the  same  direction.  It  only  has  meaning  when  we 
assume  that  there  is  an  interval  between  the  two  dream  pictures, 
such  as  perhaps  :  "I  must  first  be  superior  to  my  friend,  then 
I  will  play  with  her." 

The  history  which  preceded  the  attack  which  followed 
furnished  a  confirmation  of  our  conception.  The  game  of  the  two 
girls  was  as  a  rule  playing  "father  and  mother"  or  "playing 
doctor."  In  the  first  game  there  was  a  quarrel  between  the  two 

-  E.  Stern  has  described  similar  phenomena,  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken  frequently  in  this  book,  as  preactive  tensions  (practive  Spannungen). 
According  to  my  conception  we  are  dealing  with  a  planful,  albeit  unconscious 
utilization  of  reflex  irritability  of  inferior  organs,  with  intelligent  reflexes 
("  Intelligente  Beflexe.") 


SELF-REPROACHES,    SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.     205 

girls  as  to  whom  should  be  "father"  until  the  father  finally  took 
a  hand  and  reproached  the  patient  that  her  companion  was  always 
more  yielding  than  she,  which  was  the  truth.  The  friend  there- 
upon received  the  part  of  father.  When  the  family  shortly 
afterwards  seated  themselves  at  the  table,  the  child  was  seized 
with  an  attack.  She  ate  nothing  and  was  put  to  bed  and  in  fact 
in  her  parents'  room,  where  at  other  times  her  other  rival  slept, 
her  little  sister.  The  dream  now  expresses  a  continuation  of  the 
same  tendency  which  was  served  by  the  attack  and  furnishes  us 
a  hint  concerning  the  patient's  equal  valuation  of  her  desire  for 
masculinity  and  her  craving  to  assert  her  worth.  The  repre- 
sentation of  the  feminine  part  as  that  of  the  subordinate  or  the 
one  who  is  beneath  in  the  word,  "  under,"  strengthens  this 
view  greatly,  but  not  without  giving  rise  to  the  suspicion  that 
the  patient  knows  the  position  during  coitus.  She  slept  before 
the  arrival  of  her  younger  sister  in  her  parents'  room  and  even 
later  whenever  she  was  ill.  This  suspicion  expressed  in  the 
presence  of  the  mother  remained  uncontradicted,  but  had  as 
result  that  both  the  children  were  kept  permanently  out  of  the 
parents'  room.  But  here  we  see  again  how  the  character-traits 
of  this  child  were  active  in  the  direction  of  the  masculine  protest, 
functionating  as  distantly  placed  outposts  whose  object  it  was 
to  secure  her  at  a  distance  against  every  analogy,  every  symbolic 
experiencing  of  a  female  destiny,  degradation,  minimizing  of 
the  ego-consciousness,  and  furthermore,  to  protect  her  from  all 
future  misfortune. 

A  similar  affection  well  known  to  physicians  is  the  school- 
nausea  and  nausea  at  table  or  shortly  after  eating  which  resembles 
the  above  described  disease  in  its  psychic  constitution  in  that  it 
represents  an  unconscious  expedient  or  one  which  has  become 
unconscious  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  a  threatened  humiliation 
and  for  the  purpose  of  asserting  one's  own  worth. 

A  13  years  old  boy  had  shown  for  the  past  three  years  a 
remarkable  indolence,  which  prevented  his  progress  at  school, 
notwithstanding  his  indisputable  intelligence.  For  several 
months  past  he  had  been  manifesting  a  sort  of  lamenting  habitus 
which  would  especially  come  to  light  whenever  he  was 
admonished  for  any  cause  whatever.  His  father  and  mother  had 
probably  always  been  a  little  too  harsh  with  him,  but  as  far  as  I 
could  obtain  information  their  admonitions  only  referred  to  his 
slowness  in  eating  and  dressing  and  to  his  eagerness  for  reading. 
Lately  things  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  the  boy  began  to  cry 
whenever  he  was  reminded  of  anything  or  when  anyone  hurried 
him.  The  result  of  this  condition  was  a  more  cautious  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  parents,  though  they  thought  they  could  not 
dispense  with  admonitions  entirely  on  account  of  the  sluggish- 
ness of  the  boy. 


206  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

An  inquiry  concerning  his  last  fit  of  weeping  showed  that  he 
had  been  admonished  to  hurry  to  school,  after  he  had  been 
striving  for  half  an  hour  before  the  glass  to  brush  his  stubborn 
hair  smooth.  The  analysis  showed  that  he  saw  himself  nearing 
difficulty  and  wished  to  secure  himself  against  painful 
humiliations  by  careful  measures.  He  reproached  himself 
severely  with  childish  sex  indiscretions  which  he  had  committed 
in  company  with  other  boys  and  girls.  Above  all  he  feared 
discovery  by  his  parents  and  this  fear  reached  an  extraordinary 
degree  when  one  night  during  a  somnambulistic  experience  he 
entered  the  servant's  room  and  to  his  great  surprise  found  him- 
self in  the  morning  in  the  cook's  empty  bed.  This  sleep-walking 
was,  as  in  all  other  cases  which  I  have  been  able  to  penetrate, 
the  result  of  the  masculine  protest  against  the  feeling  of 
humiliation.  The  day  before  he  was  transferred  from  the  inter- 
mediary to  the  elementary  school  because  of  poor  progress.  The 
impression  which  this  scene  made  upon  him  was  so  great,  the 
fear  that  he  might  betray  during  his  somnambulistic  experiences, 
the  secrets  between  him  and  his  friends,  because  like  all  other 
somnambulists  he  talked  in  his  sleep,  was  so  terrifying  that  it  led 
him  to  very  strong  measures  of  security.  The  thoughts  were  first 
in  regard  to  his  erections  which  he  sought  to  conceal  carefully 
from  his  parents.  This  he  accomplished  by  a  downward  stroking 
of  his  erected  penis  with  his  hand.  By  this  time  the  craving  for 
security  had  taken  possession  of  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
treated  the  hair  which  stubbornly  persisted  in  standing  up  as  if 
it  were  a  sexual  organ,  as  in  fact  the  craving  for  security  always 
reaches  beyond  what  is  absolutely  necessary.  In  this  case  we 
see  the  modest  beginning  of  a  compulsory  act  whose  mechanism 
regularly  consists  in  a  representation  of  the  masculine  protest 
or  in  the  craving  for  security  directed  towards  it.  The  latter 
becomes  the  content  and  motive  force  of  the  compulsion  neuroses 
when  the  masculine  protest  goes  too  far  and  is  threatened  to  fall 
into  femininity  through  inner  contradictions,  because  the 
consequences  would  be  a  punishment,  a  degradation  or 
embarrassment.  It  is  then  that  the  safety  device  itself  seems  to 
be  the  more  masculine,  although  the  alluring  feeling  of  triumph 
may  not  be  produced.  Under  certain  circumstances  however  the 
same  results  may  be  attained  by  a  fighting  against  desire  in  every 
form,  so  that  a  powerful  asceticism  is  valued  as  a  triumph. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  ascetic  leanings  as  varieties  of  self  torture, 
found  a  place  in  this  boy's  craving  for  security,  and  this 
disinclination  to  eat  had  for  its  object  analogously  to  abstinence 
the  checking  of  his  outcropping  sexual  instincts.  The  boy  who, 
apart  from  this,  was  weak,  became  so  reduced  that  the  parents 
were  obliged  to  interfere.  Thus  they  came  upon  his  craving  for 
security  which  he  had  gratified  with  so  much  difficulty.  Then  the 


SELF-REPROACHES,    SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.     207 

psychomotor  familiarity  with  the  attacks  of  the  parents  led  to 
security  through  crime  as  a  result  of  which  his  value  again 
became  enhanced. 

His  eagerness  to  read  also  originated  from  his  craving  for 
security.  The  insecurity  which  had  seized  him  at  puberty 
compelled  him  to  seek  comfort,  instruction  and  a  reassuring  fear 
of  disease  in  the  encyclopaedia.  He  was  incredibly  well  read  on 
the  problems  in  question.  Once  fairly  on  the  way  to  seek  security 
in  books,  he  overdid  the  thing  because  the  elder  brothers  and 
sisters  whom  he  emulated  were  remarkable  readers,  also  because 
he  acted  against  his  parents,  his  oppressors  in  doing  this  ;  and 
thirdly  because  he  was  able  to  satisfy  his  original  masculine 
protest  in  this  way  and  follow  the  heroes  of  his  books  in  danger 
and  conflict,  which  was  shown  by  his  choice  of  reading  matter- — 
he  preferred  Karl  May. 

The  third  case  was  that  of  an  eleven  years  old  boy  who  suffered 
from  a  psychically  determined  protracted  pertussis  and  who  at 
that  time  still  suffered  from  enuresis.  He  was  an  intractable 
child  who  wished  to  attach  his  father  to  himself  while  he  tried 
to  avoid  his  step-mother  as  a  cruel  persecutor.  The  receptive 
disposition  of  the  father  was  manifested  -in  his  extreme  solicitude 
during  attacks  of  whooping  cough.  One  morning  as  the  mother 
again  reproached  the  boy  because  he  had  wet  his  bed,  he  jumped 
laughingly  out  of  bed  and  ran  about  the  room  undressed  until 
the  solicitous  father  with  an  indignant  remark  to  the  mother 
carried  the  breathless  boy  back  to  bed.  A  severe  fit  of  coughing 
which  resembled  whooping  cough,  from  which  he  had  just 
recovered,  closed  this  scene  and  caused  a  quarrel  between  the 
married  couple.  When  the  boy  again  went  to  bed  in  the  evening, 
he  sprang  up  in  an  excited  manner  and  galloped  back  and  forth 
so  that  he  again  became  breathless.  The  meaning  of  the  attack 
was  quite  obvious.  The  boy  wished  to  again  provoke  reproaches 
against  the  step-mother  and  to  draw  the  father  to  his  side.  A 
suggestive  treatment  and  an  explanation  of  the  purpose  of  the 
attack  brought  about  a  cessation  of  same,  but  the  pertussis  still 
dragged  on  for  half  a  year  longer. 

Analogous  mechanisms  are  at  the  foundation  of  the  idea  of 
suicide.  The  deed  itself  is  usually  wrecked  on  the  knowledge 
of  the  inner  contradictions  of  this  form  of  the  masculine  protest. 
The  psychic  change  results  from  the  thought  of  death,  of  non- 
existence,  the  humiliating  feeling  of  being  about  to  become  dust, 
of  wholly  losing  one's  personality.  Where  there  are  checks  of 
a  religious  nature,  they  are  merely  the  husks,  a  recoil  as  though 
this  action  too  were  a  punishment.  Hamlet,  up  to  our  time  the 
model  of  a  person  who  doubts  of  his  manliness,  of  the  psychic 
hermaphrodite,  who  consciously  represents  to  himself  in 
reassuring  forethought  the  limitations  of  his  manly  protest,  who 


208  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

rebels  against  his  feminine  line,  and  not  without  evading  the 
dialectical  change  to  the  manly  line,  protects  himself  from 
suicide  by  conjuring  up  the  dreams,  "  To  sleep,  perchance  to 
dream,  ay  there's  the  rub,  for  in  that  sleep  of  death  what  dreams 
may  come,  when  we  have  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil."  In  the 
graveyard  scene  a  real  horror  was  manifested  because  Yorick's 
skull  was  of  no  more  value  than  the  others'. 

I  have  for  some  time  defended  the  view  that  suicide  is  one  of 
the  strongest  forms  of  masculine  protest  and  represents  a  security 
from  humiliation  by  withdrawal.  The  cases  accessible  to  me  of 
attempts  at  suicide  have  always  revealed  the  neurotic  structure 
in  their  psyche.  Signs  of  somatic  inferiority,  feelings  of 
uncertainty  and  inferiority  from  childhood,  a  psychic  structure 
which  is  felt  to  be  effeminate,  and  the  overtense  masculine 
protest  answering  to  this  feeling  of  effeminacy  were  manifested 
in  the  same  manner  as  in  every  neurotic.  A  nearer  or  more 
remote  example  shows  the  trend.  The  most  powerful  psychic 
hold  originates  from  the  thoughts  of  death  in  childhood  which 
produce  a  constant  predisposition  to  suicide  by  shaping  the 
psychic  physiognomy  under  the  influence  of  the  egotistic  idea. 
In  the  previous  history  of  would-be  suicides  the  same  tendencies 
are  found  of  trying  to  attain  influence  by  illness,  by  attempting 
or  by  dwelling  on  the  thoughts  of  death,  dreaming  of  the 
mourning  of  relatives,  to  obtain  satisfaction  in  a  situation  of 
humiliation  or  when  there  are  feelings  of  despised  love.  And  the 
idea  becomes  deed  in  a  similar  situation  of  the  reduction  of  the 
feeling  of  self-esteem,  as  soon  as  this  loss  leads  to  a  strong 
reduction  of  the  worth  of  life  and  is  able  to  cause  the  dialectical 
change  of  the  masculine  idea  of  suicide  to  be  overlooked  in  the 
case  of  a  recent  humiliation.  Thus  we  must  concede  that  those 
writers  are  correct  who  see  in  suicide  a  process  allied  to  the 
insane  constructions.  My  studies  and  those  of  Bartel's  on  the 
inferiority  of  organ,  especially  the  inferiority  of  the  sexual 
apparatus,  are  in  harmony  with  this. 

In  the  neuroses  the  probability  of  a  correction  is  stronger,  if 
it  does  not  always  prevent  suicide.  It  seems  that  the  profound 
consideration  of  the  problem  of  suicide  which  with  the  neurotic 
usually  lasts  for  years  is  in  itself  a  sign  and  at  the  same  time  a 
contributory  cause  of  the  correction.  And  in  fact  the  deeds  and 
thoughts  of  neurotics  are  full  of  thoughts  of  death.  Here  is  the 
dream  of  a  neurotic  who  was  under  treatment  on  account  of 
stuttering  and  psychic  impotence,  during  a  night  after  he  had 
waited  in  vain  for  a  letter  from  his  bride  : 

"  7  thought  I  -was  dead.  My  relatives  stood  about  the  coffin 
and  conducted  themselves  as  though  they  were  in  despair." 

The  patient  remembered  having  often  had  thoughts  in  child- 
hood that  he  would  like  to  die  because  his  parents  preferred  his 


SELF-REPROACHES,   SELF-TORTURE,   ETC.      209 

younger  brother.  He  had  always  been  persecuted  by  the 
thought  that  because  of  hydrocele  and  because  of  smallness  of 
the  genital  organs  he  was  inferior  and  would  have  no  children. 
Later  he  thought  to  protect  himself  by  humiliation  of  women 
and  great  distrust  of  them  to  protect  himself  against  them  and 
unhappiness  in  marriage.  In  reality  he  felt  too  weak  and  was 
afraid  of  women.  Just  as  he  feared  this  test  in  marriage  he 
avoided  all  decisions  through  a  factor  which  had  become  motor. 
His  impotence  set  in  when  he  received  a  favorable  answer  from 
his  bride,  as  an  excuse,  an  expedient  to  postpone  marriage.  In 
the  dream,  the  thought  that  his  bride  might  prefer  another  is 
reflected.  With  this  was  connected  an  attempt  at  a  solution  by 
means  of  which  he  could  divert  her  whole  love  to  himself,  in 
which,  as  in  the  arrangement  of  his  impotence,  the  possibility  of 
marriage  was  eliminated. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  NEUROTIC'S  ESPRIT  DE  FAMILLE,  REFRACTORINESS  AND  OBED- 
IENCE, SILENCE  AND  LOQUACIOUNESS,  THE  TENDENCY  TO 
CONTRARINESS. 

IN  this  chapter  I  will  refer  to  another  series  of  character-traits 
displayed  by  neurotics,  such  as  are  often  found  in  the  foreground 
of  psychoanalytic  observations  where  they  merely  influence  the 
external  picture  of  the  neurosis.  They  merely  assist  in 
constructing  the  neurotic  individuality,  but  just  on  this  account 
may  lend  to  the  special  neurosis  a  particular  direction,  or  may 
provoke  a  definite  fate  in  the  conflict  with  the  environment. 
Thus  it  may  happen  that  the  neurotic's  esprit  de  famille  may 
be  revealed  in  an  especially  obtrusive  manner,  that  genealogical 
investigations  may  fill  a  part  of  the  neurotic's  thinking,  wnich 
conceals  more  deeply  seated  traits,  often  of  the  nature  of  an 
unjustifiable  pride  of  ancestry,  which  is  then  utilized  as  a  striving 
against  the  social  obligations  which  go  with  sexual  relations  and 
marriage,  similarly  as  the  hunting  out  of  heredity  of  disease  is 
utilized.  This  readily  succeeds  through  an  arrangement  of 
extreme  affection  for  certain  members  of  the  family,  or  for  the 
entire  family.  This  affection  originates  from  the  compulsion  of 
the  same  guiding  fiction  with  its  internal  contradiction  upon 
which  the  fear  of  decisions  and  of  the  sexual  partner  rests.  This 
expedient  then  serves  the  purpose  of  gaining  mastery  over  the 
family  circle,  for  which  purpose  the  family  bond  is  taken  as 
something  holy.  In  neurotics  the  break  with  the  family  borders 
on  the  esprit  de  famille,  as  soon  as  the  craving  for  security 
makes  itself  felt  more  strongly  and  requires  proof  that  it  is 
impossible  to  depend  even  on  blood  relations.  Misanthropy  as 
an  abstract  guiding  line  and  refuge  in  solitude  are  then  not  rare 
occurrences  and  are  plainly  revealed  in  the  psychosis. 

The  subordination  of  the  character-traits  to  the  guiding  fiction 
may  be  seen  especially  clearly  in  the  antithetical  traits  of 
refractoriness  and  obedience,1  which  singly  or  intermingled  in 
varying  degrees  contribute  much  to  the  coloring  of  the  neurotic 
psyche.  Insight  into  the  construction  of  these  character-traits, 
which  have  been  abstracted  from  neutral,  actual  impressions  of 
the  pre-neurotic  period  and  have  then  been  neurotically  grouped 

1  Adler,  Trotz  und  Gehorsam,  1.  c. 

210 


THE  NEUROTIC'S  ESPRIT  DE  FAMILLE  211 

and  worked  over  into  guiding  lines,  teaches  us  much  concerning 
the  origin,  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  a  given  character. 

The  idea  of  a  congenital  origin  of  "  character,"  is  untenable 
because  the  real  substratum  for  the  formation  of  psychic 
character  and  whatever  part  thereof  may  be  congenital,  is  meta- 
morphosed under  the  influence  of  the  guiding  idea  until  this 
idea  is  satisfied.  Both  refractoriness  and  obedience  are  only 
attitudes  which  reveal  to  us  the  jump  from  the  uncertain  past 
into  the  protecting  future,  as  are  all  other  character-traits. 

Timidity  as  an  attitude  of  the  fear  of  decisions  is  often 
accompanied  in  neurotics  by  the  trait  of  uncommunicability. 
These  devices  work  in  the  manner  of  an  isolation  which  has  for 
its  purpose  the  withdrawal  from  the  environment  of  the  points 
of  contact.  The  neurotic  who  persists  in  silence  sometimes 
shows  his  superiority  and  derogatory  tendency  also  in  the  role  of 
kill-joy,  or  he  arranges  through  his  silence  and  apparent  want 
of  ideas  the  proof  that  he  is  not  the  equal  of  others,  especially 
when  these  are  in  the  majority,  and  that  he  is  especially  unfit  for 
marriage.  In  the  taking  up  and  accentuating  the  antithesis  of 
the  above,  loquaciousness,  I  have  at  times  discovered  the  proof 
for  the  conviction  that  the  individual  cannot  keep  a  secret. 
Another  form  of  attack  and  detraction  is  found  in  the  loud, 
impatient  manner  which  many  neurotics  have  of  interrupting 
others.  The  object  is  often  more  obvious  from  the  circumstance 
that  he  introduces  every  remark  with  a  "No"  or  a  "But"  or  an 
"  On  the  contrary." 

A  trait  of  character  to  which  the  neurosis  owes  much  of  its 
definiteness  and  significance,  which  is  always  present  and  which, 
together  with  refractoriness  and  negativism,  belongs  to  the 
strongest  forms  of  expression  of  the  masculine  protest,  is  the 
tendency  to  desire  to  have  everything  different  or  turned  around. 
This  trait  is  found  in  the  compensatory  efforts  as  well  as  in  the 
striving  after  neurotic  expedients,  it  exists  in  the  disputatious- 
ness  and  in  the  neurotic  derogatory  tendency  and  possesses  an. 
enormous  applicability  for  the  conflict  with  the  environment. 
It  is  the  counterpart  of  the  frequently  observed  conservative, 
pedantic  nature  of  the  neurotic  and  like  it  permits  him  to  confirm 
his  thirst  for  mastery.  The  striving  for  change  and  revolution 
is  found  at  the  root  of  the  masculine  protest,  when  the  latter  is 
constructed  according  to  an  antithesis.  '  The  essential  of  alt 
feminine  dialectic  is  said  to  be  :  to  wish  everything  different," 
announces  E.  Fuchs  in  "  Die  Frau  in  der  Karikatur."  In  dress, 
morals,  attitude,  and  movement,  something  bizarre  is  always 
revealed,  usually  with  some  pretext.  One  of  my  patients  often 
turned  herself  around  in  sleep  in  such  a  way  that  when  she  awoke 
she  found  herself  lying  in  the  opposite  direction.  In  waking 
hours  also  she  sought  to  turn  everything  upside  down.  One  of 


1212  THE  NEUROTIC  CONSTITUTION 

her  favorite  phrases  was,  "  On  the  contrary,"  as  an  objection 
to  the  opinion  of  others.  The  wish  to  be  above,  to  ride,  to  wear 
the  pants  is  often  found  to  be  expressed  in  patients  of  this  sort 
in  an  extraordinarily  clear  manner.  In  the  psychotherapeutic 
treatment  this  trait  is  manifested  from  beginning  to  end,  as  is 
the  case  with  negativism  in  catatonics,  may  be  always  anticipated 
and  extends  to  the  most  trivial  things.  Very  often  these  neurotic 
tendencies  to  contrariness  are  manifested  in  the  form  of  a  notion 
that  the  physician  could  come  to  the  patient,  not  the  patient  to 
the  physician.  Predictions  should  as  a  rule  be  avoided  in  the 
treatment  of  neurotics,  but  where  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to 
turn  things  around  the  physician  will  always  be  put  in  the  wrong. 

The  effort  is  constantly  made  to  make  up-down  ;  right-left ; 
before-behind,  because  the  guiding  fiction  demands  symbolically 
the  turning  around,  that  is,  the  changing  from  feminine  to 
masculine.  Words  and  writing  are  turned  around  (mirror 
writing),  morality,  sexual  conduct,  dreams  are  turned  into 
opposites  and  follow  in  reverse  sequence  and  sometimes  play- 
fully, but  at  other  times  offensively,  thoughts  are  turned  around. 
The  expedient  which  is  to  preserve  a  masculine  line  of  conduct 
lias  accordingly  something  of  the  nature  of  fury. 

The  application  of  this  "  On  the  contrary  "  (Umgekehrt)  in 
superstition,  perhaps  for  the  purpose  of  cheating  fate  by 
•expecting  the  opposite  of  what  one  would  like,  is  a  frequent  trait 
in  neurotics,  reveals  their  complete  insecurity,  takes  us  back  to 
the  neurotic  cautiousness  and  permits  the  recognition  of  the 
tremendous  significance  and  wide  scope  which  this  attains  in  the 
psyche  of  the  neurotic.2 

About  this  nucleus  of  cautiousness  may  be  grouped,  according 
to  the  exactions  of  the  guiding  ideal,  traits  of  truthfulness  or 
untruthfulness  as  the  particular  situation  may  demand.  They 
always  express  the  striving  after  full  masculinity,  sometimes 
directly,  at  other  times  by  circuitous  ways.  Closely  related  to 
these  are  traits  of  deception  and  frankness,  the  first  character- 
istic originating  clearly  in  a  feeling  of  inferiority,  of  being  under. 
A  strong  anticipatory  craving  for  security  is  revealed  by  the  traits 
of  hypersensitiveness  to  pain  and  suffering  which  keeps  the 
Individual  as  well  as  the  environment  reminded  that  he  can  only 
choose  those  situations  in  life  which  can  be  endured  without  pain. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  anticipation  of  labor  pains  often 
enters  into  the  construction  of  this  guiding  line.  The  neurotic's 
phenomena  of  doubt,  of  vacillation  and  of  lack  of  decision  which 
have  been  so  frequently  emphasized  in  this  book  are  related  to 
cautiousness.  They  always  set  in  when  reality  influences  the 
guiding  fiction  in  such  a  manner  that  contradictions  constantly 
emerge  in  the  latter,  when  the  danger  of  a  defeat,  of  a  loss  of 
a  See  also  Adler,  "  Syphilidophohia."  1.  c. 


THE  NEUROTIC'S  ESPRIT  DE  FAMILLE        213, 

prestige,  is  threatened  by  reality.  There  are  then,  generally 
speaking,  three  ways  open  to  the  neurotic,  which  depend  upon 
the  strength  of  the  fictitious  guiding  goal,  so  that  the  developed 
neurosis  assumes  an  aspect  in  correspondence  with  one  of  these. 
The  first  way  is  by  fixing  the  doubt  and  vacillation  as  a  basis  of 
operation,  as  is  most  frequently  found  in  neurasthenics  and 
psychasthenics,  the  tendency  to  doubt.  The  second  way  leads  to 
the  psychosis  by  means  of  which  under  the  construction  of  a 
feeling  of  truth,3  the  fiction  is  hypostasized,  deified.  The  third 
way  leads  to  a  formal  change  of  the  fiction  under  an  arrangement 
of  anxiety,  weakness,  pain,  etc.,  in  short  to  a  neurotic,  circuitous 
way  in  which  feminine  means  are  employed  to  attain  the  purposes, 
of  the  masculine  protest. 


3  Kanabich,  "  Zur  Pathologie  der  Intellectuellen  Emotionen  "  ("  Psych o- 
therapia,"  edited  by  v.  N.  Wiroboff,  Moskau,  1911),  approached  this  thought- 
very  closely. 


CONCLUSION 

Our  study  has  shown  that  man's  character-traits  and  their 
principal  function  in  the  life  of  the  individual  are  manifested  as 
expedients,  in  the  nature  of  guiding  lines  for  the  thinking, 
feeling,  willing,  and  acting  of  the  human  psyche,  and  that  they 
are  brought  into  stronger  relief  so  soon  as  the  individual  strives 
to  escape  from  the  phase  of  uncertainty  to  the  fulfillment  of  his 
fictitious  guiding  idea.  The  material  for  the  construction  of  the 
character-traits  is  contained  in  the  psychic  totality  and  congenital 
differences  vanish  before  the  uniform  effect  of  the  guiding  fiction. 
Goal  and  direction,  the  fictitious  purpose  of  the  traits  of  character 
may  be  best  recognized  in  the  original,  direct,  aggressive  lines. 
Want  and  difficulties  of  life  lead  to  alterations  of  character,  so 
that  only  such  constructions  find  favor  as  stand  in  harmony  with 
the  individual's  ego-idea.  In  this  manner  are  formed  the  more 
cautious,  the  more  hesitating  character-traits  which  show  a 
deviation  from  the  direct  line,  but  examination  of  which  reveals 
their  dependence  upon  the  guiding  fiction. 

The  neuroses  and  psychoses  are  attempts  at  compensation, 
constructive  creations  of  the  psyche  which  result  from  the 
accentuated  and  too  highly  placed  guiding  ideal  of  the  inferior 
child.  The  uncertainty  of  these  children  in  regard  to  their  future 
and  their  success  in  life  forces  them  to  stronger  efforts  and 
reassurances  in  their  fictitious  life  plan.  The  more  fixed  and 
rigid  their  guiding  picture,  their  individual  categorical  imperative, 
the  more  dogmatically  they  draw  the  guiding  lines  of  their  lives. 
The  more  cautiously  they  proceed  in  this,  the  further  they  weave 
these  threads  of  thought  beyond  their  own  person  out  into  the 
future  and  organize  on  their  peripheral  ends  where  contact  with 
the  external  world  is  to  take  place,  those  traits  of  character  which 
are  required  to  serve  as  outposts  for  their  psychic  predispositions. 
With  its  extraordinary  sensitiveness  the  neurotic  trait  of 
character  fastens  itself  to  reality  in  order  to  change  it  according 
to  the  egoistic  ideal,  or  in  order  to  subject  it  to  the  same.  Should 
defeat  threaten,  the  neurotic  predispositions  and  symptoms  come 
into  force. 

The  slight  significance  of  the  congenital  substratum  as  far  as 
the  formation  of  character  is  concerned  arises  also  from  the  fact 
that  the  guiding  fiction  only  collects  and  unites  into  a  group  those 
psychic  elements  of  which  it  can  make  use.  It  only  collects  those 
faculties  and  memories  in  which  results  are  promised  for  the 
attainment  of  the  final  goal.  In  the  neurotic  reformation  of  the 

214 


CONCLUSION  215 

jpsyche  the  guiding  fiction  has  absolute  dominion  and  makes  use 
of  experience  according  to  its  own  bent,  as  if  the  psyche  were 
a  motionless,  concrete  mass.  It  is  only  when  the  neurotic 
perspective  becomes  effective,  when  the  neurotic  character  and 
predispositions  are  fully  developed  and  the  way  to  the  guiding 
goal  is  assured  that  we  recognize  the  individual  as  neurotic.  It 
is  then  that  the  neurotic  psyche  teaches  us  more  clearly  than 
does  the  normal  that,  '  Through  the  great  being  which 
surrounds  and  penetrates  us,  there  is  a  great  becoming  which 
strives  toward  a  completed  being."  (Durch  das  grosse  Sein, 
das  uns  umgibt  und  weit  in  uns  hineinreicht,  zieht  sich  ein 
grosses  Werden,  das  dem  vollendeten  Sein  zustrebt.)  Thus  we 
find  that  "  character,"  which  has  found  its  utility  through  the 

f aiding  ideal  is  something  like  an  intelligent  pattern  (intelligente 
chablone)  which  is  made  use  of  by  the  craving  for  security  as 
well  as  by  the  affect  and  disease  predispositions.  It  is  the  task 
of  comparative  individualistic  psychology  to  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  these  models,  as  Breuer  has  begun  to  understand 
them  in  their  genetic,  and  in  our  sense,  analogical  construction, 
to  regard  them  as  a  symbol  of  a  life  plan,  as  a  simile.  For 
through  the  analysis  of  character  by  means  of  which  the  line 
which  ever  soars  toward  the  guiding  ideal  may  always  be 
followed,  we  find  compressed  in  one  point  the  past,  present, 
future,  and  the  desired  goal. 

One  will  always  find  that  neurotics  cling  tenaciously  to  their 
reassuring  ideals.  The  defense  of  them  becomes  accentuated 
because  the  patient  in  abandoning  his  ideal  as  well  as  by  a  change 
in  direction  of  his  life  plan  brought  about  by  another  anxiously 
anticipates  a  defeat,  a  subordination,  an  emasculation.  The  next 
step  in  the  therapeutic  procedure  will,  according  to  this,  have 
to  be  the  removal  of  this  strongly  antithetical  attitude,  the 
resistance  of  the  patient  to  the  physician,  and  its  revelation  as  a 
form  of  the  old  neurotic  ideal,  as  the  exaggerated  masculine 
protest. 

Thus  as  a  final  word  and  as  an  explanation  of  our  standpoint 
we  may  sum  up  as  follows  :  Inferior  organs  and  neurotic 
phenomena  are  symbols  of  formative  forces  which  strive  to 
realize  a  self-constructed  life  plan  by  means  of  intense  efforts 
and  expedients. 


AUTHORS'    CONTRIBUTIONS    REFERRED  TO 
IN  THIS  BOOK 

Studie  iiber  Minderwertigkeit  von  Organen.  Urban  u. 
Schwarzenberg.  Wien  u.  Berlin,  1907. 

Uber  neurotische  Disposition.  Jahrbuch,  Bleuler-Freud, 
1909. 

Der  Aggressionstrieb  im  Leben  und  in  der  Neurose. 
Fortschritte  der  Medizin.  Leipzig,  1908. 

Die  Bedeutung  der  Organminderwertigkeitslehre  fur  Philo- 
sophic und  Psychologic.  Vortrag  in  der  Gesellschaft  fur 
Philosophic  an  der  Universitat  in  Wien,  1908. 

Myelodysplasie  oder  Organminderwertigkeit  ?  Wiener  med. 
Wochenschrift,  1909. 

Der  psychische  Hermaphroditismus  im  Leben  und  in  der 
Neurose.  Fortschr.  d.  Medizin,  1910.  Leipzig. 

Trotz  und  Gehorsam.  Monatschefte  fur  Padagogik.  Wien, 
1910. 

Die  psyche  Behandlung  der  Trigeminusneuralgie.  Zentralblatt 
fur  Psychoanalyse.  Wiesbaden.  Bergman,  1910. 

Einerlogener  Traum.  Zentralblatt  fur  Psychoanalyse.  Wies- 
baden. Bergman,  1910. 

Uber  mannliche  Einstellung  bei  weiblichen  Neurotikern. 
Zentralblatt  fur  Psychoanalyse.  Wiesbaden.  Bergman,  1910. 

Beitrag  zur  Lehre  vom  Widerstand.  Zentralblatt  fur  Psycho- 
analyse. Wiesbaden.  Bergman,  1910. 

Syphilidophobie.  Zentralblatt  fur  Psychoanalyse.  Wiesbaden. 
Bergman,  1910. 

Zur  Determination  des  Charakters.  Vortrag,  gehalten  in  der 
Gesellschaft  fur  Psychologic  an  der  Universitat  in  Wien,  1909. 


THE     END. 


INDEX 


Accusation,  self-,  130 

Acquisitiveness,  6 

Activity,  20,  133 

Adenoids,   4 

Adler,  bibliography,  216 

Adultery,  104,  131 

Affectivity,  5 

Agresaionstrieb,  1,  8,  40,   155,  157 

Agoraphobia,  91 

Alcoholism,  182 

Alexander,  162 

Algolagnia,  120 

Ambition,  19,  48,  155,  166,  184 

—  case,   163 
Ambivalency,  117 
Angio-neurotic      diathesis,       Krei- 

bich,  2 
Anorexia,  102 
Anticipatory  thinking,  187 
Antithesis,  the  neurotic,  12-13,  15, 

16,  32,  42-43,  49,  52,  57,  72,  100, 

104,  140,  160,  163,  165,  187,  212 
Antivivisectionism,  157 
Anton,  2 
Anxiety,   48,   72,   77,   78,   88,  116, 

130,  166,  179,  182 

—  cases,  79,  93,  108,  135,  142 
Apperception,     neurotic    mode    of, 

16,  21,  61,  109 
Aprosexia,  4 
Aristotle,   12,  162 
Arrogance,  135 

Asceticism,  100,  198,  200,  206 
As  If,  Philosophy  of  the,  15 
Asthma,  60,  176 
Authoritativeness,  160 
Author's  bibliography,  216 
Avarice,  61,  73,  78,  89 

—  cases,  63 
Avenarius,  37 
Awkwardness,  102,  186 

Baldung,  162 

Bartel,  3,  5,  208 

Baschkirzewa,  125 

Basedow,    76 

Bashfulness,  47-48,  53,  88,  145 

Baudelaire,  186 

Berger,   Alfred,    166 

Bergson,  28,  168 

Bezzola,  108 

Bibliography,  Adler,  216 

Bickel,    6 


Birks,  Thiemich-,  5 

Biting  of  nails,  25 

Bjerre,  203 

Blepharospasm,  86 

Bleuler,  12,  36,  82,  86,  117,  121 

Blindness,  102 

Bloch,  120 

Blushing,  24,  91,  102,  145,  175,  179 

Boastfulness,  100,  133 

Bossi,  79 

Bouchard,    2 

Bradytrophy,  2 

Breuer,  viii.,  71 

Brod,  74 

Burgkmair,  162 


Capriciousness,  117 

Carelessness,  124 

Carus,  67 

Cases,  62,  79,  85,  92,  105,  106, 
108,  122,  126,  131,  135,  138,  142, 
144,  162,  164,  177,  189,  201,  203, 
205,  207 

Castration  phantasies,  180,  189 

Catarrh,  176 

Catatonia,   case,  131 

Caution,  21,  77,  149,  184,  212 

Charcot,   28 

Chatrain,  68 

Chvostek,  5 

Claustrophobia,   91 

Cleanliness,  48 

Climacteric,  14,  74 

Clumsiness,  4,  26 

Colic,  60 

Comby,  2 

Compensation,  Anton's  theory,  2 

—  psychic,  18 

—  through     the     central     nervous 
system,  1,  9 

Compulsory   ideas,  107,    184 

—  cases,  165,  167 
Conscience,  118,  155,  158,  166 
Conscientiousness,  48,  130 
Constancy,  173 
Constipation,  60,  84 

—  case,  79 

Constitutional  inferiority,  4, 17,  29 
Contentiousness,   20,    22,   140,    166 
Contrariness,    210 
Contrition,  198 
Convulsions,  tetsnoid,  6 


217 


218 


INDEX 


Coprology,   180 
Coprophilic  phantasies,  189 
Coquetry,   61,  104,  118,  120 
Courage,  31,  48,  135 
Covetousness,  133 
Cowardice,  53,  135,  139,  164 
Craving  for  security,   xiii.,  20,  21, 

28,  47,  49,  64,  78,  115,  132,  168, 

172,  176,  188,  200,  207 
Criminality,  53,  100,  103,  157 
Critique,  61,  141 
Cruelty,  31,  53,  61,  155,  157 
Cryptorchism ,  68,  94 
Cyclothymia,   187 
Czerny,  2,  5,  176 

Darwin,  35 

Deaf- mutism,  4 

Deafness,  102 

Death,  danger  of,  14 

Deception,  135 

Defiance,   case,  163 

Degeneracy,    4-5 

Deja  vu,  43 

Delirium,  100 

Dementia   precox,    128,   171,    187, 

364 

Demosthenes,  150 
Depreciation,  of  others,  22 

—  self-,   29 

Depression,  91,  102,  166,  177,  182 

—  cases,  93,  167 

Derogation,  61,  70,  134,  136,  141, 
160,  164,  174,  184,  190,  202 

—  of  man,  88 
Desire  to  dominate,  89 
Dessoir,  51 
Dexterities,  72,  88 

Diagram,  of  neurotic  psyche,  36 

Difficulty  of  hearing,  4,  5 

Discontent,  134,  177,  184 

Disparagement,   see  Derogation 

Disposition  zur  Neurose,  126 

Disputatiousness,  88,  167,  177,  211 

Distractibility,  6 

Distrust,   104 

Dogs,  symbolic  significance,  171 

Dostoyeffsky.  166 

Doubt,  48,  72,  77,  100,  125,  142 

— cases,  105,  167 

Dream  theory,  x. 

Dreams,  20,  42,  53,  71,  78,  89,  95, 
97,  108,  121,  122,  136,  137,  140, 
142,  143,  144,  152,  162,  167,  169, 
171,  177,  191,  194,  204,  208 

—  of  a    single   night,    170 

—  day,  176 

—  exhibition,  78,  113 

—  flying,  16,  162 

—  of  climbing  stairs,  162 

—  of  riding,  162 

—  sexual,  78 


Diirer,  162 
Dyspnoea,  88 

Eavesdropping,  94 

Economy,   48 

Effeminacy,  15,  20-21,  30-31 

Ego-consciousness,  11,  13,  19,  28, 
31,  32,  38,  66,  137,  162,  163, 
169,  173,  179,  186-187,  204 

Egotism,  48,  53,  125 

Ejaculatio  precox,  69,  176 

Emasculation,  134,  163 

Eneuresis,  5,  25,  102 

—  cases,  85,  135,  207 

Envy,  22,  31,  48,  61,  78,  89,  111, 

133,  155,  166 
Epicureanism,  200 
Epilepsy,   91,   92,  156 

—  case,   84 

—  hystero-,  case,  164 

Epochs,  causative  of  neuroses  and 

psychoses,  14 
Eppinger,  2 
Erckmann,  55 
Erythrophobia,  60 
Escherich,  2,  5 
Esprit  do  famille,  210 
Exactness,  48,  102 
Exaltation,   102 
Examinations,  14 
Exhibitionism,  113,  173,  180,  181, 

198 

Exner,  46 
Exudative  diathesis,  2,  138,  176 

Fainting,  102 
Fantasy,  42,  169 
Fatigue,  20,  88 
Fear,   88,   164 

—  of  being  alone,  88 

—  of  decision,  184,  211 

—  of  falling,  88 

—  of  partner,  184,  185,  187,  188 

—  of  places,  182,  195 

—  of  reality,  44 

—  of  society,  88,  189 

—  of  solitude,  183 

—  of  wife,  184 
Feeble-mindedness,  5 

Feeling  of  inferiority,  1,  6,  9,  13, 
29,  30,  31,  42,  45-46,  49,  78,  100, 
101,  106,  121,  140,  146,  158,  161, 
162,  169.  176,  179,  195 

—  case,  164 

Feeling  of  superiority,  11,  18.  110, 

152,  174,  200 
Fellatio,   116 
Fere",  ix. 
Ferrari,   157 
Fetichism,  100,  115,  124,  159,  16«. 

181 
Finickiness,  89,  183 


INDEX 


219 


Flagellation,  189,  198,  201 

Flies,  52,  102,  106 

Forgetf  uln,ess,  141 

Fortmuller*  130 

Fres-Meyerhof,   35 

Freud,  viii.,  ix.,  x.,  xi.,  3,  35,  38, 
52,  53,  55,  70,  71,  76,  82,  86,  97, 
108,  109,  125,  137,  141,  159 

Freytag,  41,  150 

Frigidity,  88,  104,  121 

Frischauf,  91 

Fuchs,  E-,  211 

Fugues,  5 

Gall,  57 

Gandharvs,  52 

Ganghofer,  194 

Genitals,   malformation  of,   5 

Genu  valgus,  5 

Genu  varus,  5 

Globus  hystericus,  86 

Goethe,  19,  51,  58,  74 

Gogol,  196 

Gott,  5 

Gourmandism,  6 

Greed,  6,  31,  48,  155 

Grien,  162 

Grillparzer,  188 

Groos,  23,  28,  161,  180 

Gross,   Otto,  2,  103 

Griiner,  132,  148 

Guiding  fiction,  11,  18,  27 

Guiding  line,  21 

Guiding  principle,  9,  15 

Habitus,  torpid,  5 
Halban,  52 

Hallucinations,  20,  42,  45,  121, 
124,  126 

—  of  pain,  163 
Halvan,   106 
Hamburger,  6 
Hate,  22 

Headache,  60,  91,  102,  177,  182 
— cases,  162 
Hebel,  44 
Hermaphrodism,  113 

—  psychic,   50,  52,  100,  118,   131, 
165 

Herodotus,  32 
Hero-worship,   175 
Hertz,  196 
Hesitation,  48 
Hess,  2 
Heubner,   2 
Hey  man,   102 

Hilfs  constructionen ,  see  Safety- 
devices 

Hirschfeld,  114 
Hochwert,  Frankl,  v.,  5 
Holtzknecht,  60 
Homer,  128 


Homosexuality,    16,    21,   115,   124 

159,  173,  195 
Hydrocephalus ,   4 
Hyperacusis,  96 
Hyper  sensitiveness,   164 
Hypochondriasis,   72,    116 
Hypophysis  cerebri,  135 
Hysteria,  156 
Hystero-epilepsy,   164 

Ibsen,  61,  102 
Ideal,  ego,  184 

—  neurotic,  184 
Immermann,  101 

Immodesty,     114,     181,     see     also 

Exhibitionism 
Impatience,  20,  89,  134 
Impotence,  12,  20,  21,  31,70, 172, 176 

—  cases,  208 
Inaccessibility,  134 
Incest-complex,  100,  110,  145 

—  phantasies,  159,   185 
Inconstancy,  173 
Incontinence,   of   faeces,  5 

—  of  urine,  5 
Indolence,  5,  20 
Industry,  48 

Infantile  arthritism,  Comby,  2 
Infantilism,  5 
Inferiority,  literature  of,  2 
Infidelity,  194 

—  phantasies  of,  181 
Insatiableness,  111 

Insomnia,  89,  91, 104,  146,  152,  184 

—  cases,  105,  123,  167,  169,  189 
Intolerance,  22 
Introduction,  vii. 
Introspection,  48 
Irritability,  5 

James,    28 

Janet,  vii.,  viii.,  ix.,  117,  198 

Jassny,  103 

Jaureg,  Wagner  von,  155 

Jealousy,  104,   160,  171,  173,  174, 

177,  182,  184 
Jodl,  45 

Joel,  Karl,  163,  165 
Johannistrieb,  76 
Jones,  B.,  114,  149 

Kanabich,  213 

Kant,  27,  28,  34,  150,  173 

Kipling,  148 

Kisch,   77 

Kleptomania,   91,   101 

Krafft-Ebing,    52 

Kreibich,  2 

Kyrle,  3,  203 

Laziness,  20,  53,  163 
—  cases,  205 


220 


INDEX 


Leonardo  da  Vinci,  86 
Leporelist,  101 
Lewdness,  182 
Libido,  31 
Lichtenberg,  54,  200 
Limping,  102 
Lingua  scrotallis,  59 
Lippa,  160 
Litzmann,    102 
Liveliness,  5 

Lombroso,  9,   12,   72,  167 
Love,  100,  103 
Lying,  pathological,   6 

—  mania,   100 

—  cases,  107 
Lymphatism,  Heubner's,  2 

Malice,  92,  155 

Malthieu,  Dr.,   58 

Mannliche   Einstellung   Weiblicher 

Neurotikes,  152 
Marczinowsky,  181 
Marriage,  14,  20 
Martius,  3 
Masculine  goal,  7 

—  protest,  49,  61,  53,  78,  85,  88, 
102,  105,  108,  118,  141,  160,  169, 
176,  179,  185,  189 

Masochism,  20,  124,  159,  172,  185 
— cases,  156,  162 
Masturbation,  12,  25,  100,  107,  130, 
160,  172,  182 

—  cases,  106,  112,    132,    139,  169, 
176,  178 

Megalomania,  48 

Meister,  51 

Melancholy,  77,  187 

Mendel,  76 

Menstruation,  14 

Meschede,    125 

Meyer,  E.  H.,  52 

Meyerhoff,  16,  35 

Michaelis,  76 

Michel,  47 

Migraine,    60,    77,    91,    102,    146, 

151,  156 
— cases,  93,  201 
Minus- variants,  2 
Misoneism,  Lombroso 's,  9,  72 
Mistrust,  88,  171 
Modesty,    48,    113,    124,    135,  173, 

179,  180 
Moebius,   119 
Moll,  115 
Moodiness,   5 
Morel,  6 
Moro,  2 
Moroseness,  5 
Morphine,  failure  of,  202 
Mother  fixation,  56 
Myopathy,   6 
Myths,  charm  of,  186 


Naecke,  120 

Naevi,  4 

Narcissism,  118,  121,  180,  185,  189 

Nausea,   88,   102 

— cases,    79 

—  school,  205 
Necrophilia,  119 
Negativism,   infantile,   84 
Neologisms,  cases,  127 
Netslitzky,   5 
Neuralgia,  156 

—  cases,   147 

Neurotischen  Disposition,  1,  151 

Neusser,   von,    106 

Nietzsche,   ix.,   9,    12,   15,  30,  39, 

56,81 

No,  the  neurotic,   167 
Nymphomania,   101 

Obedience,  210 

Obstinacy,  20,  30,  88,  111,  134,  143 

—  cases,  135,  163 
Obstipation,  see  Constipation 
Oedipus  complex,  32,  72,  90,  91,  97 
Onanism,  see  Masturbation 
Openheim,   161 
Organ-inferiority,  4 
Organ-jargon,  see  Somatic  jargon 
Overcompensation,  peychic,  1,  6 
Ovid,  114 

Palpitation  of  heart,  88,  31,  179 
Paralysis,   146,  182 
Paranoia,  127,  187 

—  litigious    123 
Parsimony,  100 
Passivity,  20,  21 
Patricide,   166 
Paulsen,  26 
Pavor  nocturnus,  5 
Pawlow,  34 

Pedantry,  30,  78,  118  * 

Penury,  100 

Personlichkeitsgefiihl,  see  Ego- 
consciousness 

Pertussis,   cases,  207 

Perverse  sexuality,  12 

Perversion,  155,  158,  173,  177,  182, 
189 

Pessimism,  72 

Pfaundler,  5 

Phantasy,  see  Fantasy 

Phantom  pregnancy,  87 

Philosophy  of  the  As  If,  Vaihinger, 
16 

Phlegmatism,  5 

Phobias,  see  Fear 

Photophobia,  4 

Pineles,  5 

Plato,  165,  184 

Pliancy,  134 

Poggio,  196 


INDEX 


321 


Pollution,  169,  176,  177,  196 
Poltauf,  2 
Polyuria,  88 
Ponflick,  2 
Porta,  57 
Potpeschnigg,  5 
Practical  Part,  61 
Precocity,  4,  6,  111 

—  sexual,  12 
Preface,  Author's,  v. 
Pregnancy,   14 

—  phantom,  87 

—  compulsory  ideas,  88 
Preparation,  psychic,  20,  24,  45-46, 

56 

Preuss,  K.  Th.,  160 
Pride,  31,  48,  177,  182 
Profession,  choice  of,  160 
Prostitution,  147 

—  phantasies,   181 
Protection,  against  coitus,   88 

—  against  courting,  88 

—  against   maternal  duties,   89 

—  against  parturition,  88 

—  against  pregnancy,  88 

—  against  puerperium,   89 
Pseudomasochism,    124,  176 
Psychic  hermaphrodism  in  life  and 

the  neuroses,  50,  86 
Psychischen   Behandlung    des    Tri- 

geminus   Neuralgic,  1,  102,   149, 

176 

Psychischen  Hermaphroditiemus,  1 
Puerperium,  14 
Punctuality,  173 
Pyromania,  156 
Pythagoras,  12 

Querulousness,  140 

Rage,  paroxysms  of,  5 
Raimann,  117 
Rakowiza,  Helen,  125 
Recurrence       of       the        identical, 

Nietzsche,  9 
Reflexes,  exaggerated,  5 

—  conditioned,  6 
Refraction,  anomalies  of,  4 
Refractoriness,  210 
Reich,  J.,  150 
Religiosity,  21,  202 
Remorse,  166 
Restlessness,  5 

Return  of  the  identical,   Nietzsche, 

190 

Revengefulness,  31,  92 
Rickets,  4,  133,  162 
Rochefoucauld.   67,   156 
Roughness,  68-69,  129 
Round  shoulders,  5 
Sadism,  12,  22,    69,  89,   92,    115, 

155,  159,  172 


Safety-devices,  xii.,  43,  58 
Sand,  George,  136 
Scheme,  neurotic,  88 
Schmidt,  4,  59 
Schopenhauer,  52,  119,  186 
Schreber,  case  of,  125 
Schrenck-Notzing,  119 
Schumann,  Clara,  102,  150 
Scoliosis,  5 

Self-accusation,  130,  198 
Self-confidence,   44 
Self-preservation,   35 
Self-reproach,  166 
'     Self-torture,  198 

Senile  neuroses,  61,  74 
Sensitiveness,  177 

—  cases,  163 

Sentiment  d'incompldtude,  of  Janet, 

vii. 

Sexual  guiding  lines,  44 
Sexual  perversions,  68,  115,  121 

—  inferiority,  79 
!    —  precocity,  12 

—  activity,  14 

—  anomalies,  13,  81 
Sexuality  and  death,  198 

—  as    a    jargon,    32,    75,  97,    114, 
140,   161,  169,  177 

Shame,   48 

Shamelessness,  180,  see  also  Exhi- 
bitionism 

Shiller,    34 

Sicherungstendenz,  eee  Craving  for 
security 

Silberer,    36 

Silence,  182,  210 

Simmel,  119 

Simplicity,  124 

Simulation,  100,  134 

Singer,  60 

Siphilidophobia,  112,  150,  153,  195, 
212 

Sleep,   disturbances  of,  5 

Sleepiness,   5,  91 

Socrates,  47 

Somatic  inferiority,  1,  198 

Somatic  jargon,  61,  84,  85,  124 

Somnambulism,  5,   160 

Spasmophilia,   Escherich,  2 

Spasms,  sphincters,  86 

—  vocal  cords,  86 
Speech-defect,  4,  5 

Sperm   glands,  anomalies   of,   133 

Splitting   of  consciousness,  61,  124 

Squints,  5 

Staggering  gait,  89 

Stammering,  cases,  62 

Stature,   anomalies  of,  4 

Status  thymico-lympbaticus,   106 

—  in  suicide,  5;  Poltauf ,  2 ;  Bartel, 
3 

Stekel,  96,  157 


222 


INDEX 


Stendhal,  194 

Stern,  E.,  204 

Stinginess,  6 

Strabismus,  4 

Stransky,   6 

Strindberg,    119 

Strumpell,  2,  117,  138,  176 

Studie     iiber    Mindwertigkeit     von 

Organen,  iii.,  1,  3,  4,  6,  8,  36,  57, 

79,  126-127,  137,  143 
Stupidity,  5 
Stuttering,  4,  25,  91,  102,  145 

—  cases,  142 
Submissiveness,  135,  185 
Sucking,  25 

—  thumb,  59 
Suggestibility,  22,  117 
Suicides,  14,  148,  198,  207 

—  status-lymphaticus  in,  5 

—  juvenile,  5 

—  cases,  105,  135,  190 
Suspiciousness,  61 

Symbols,  as  a  jargon,  x.,  15,  60, 

163 
Sympathy,  118,  149 

Tardinese,  141 

Telepathy,  42 

Tetanoid  convulsions,  5 

Theoretical  part,  1 

Thiemich-Birks,  5 

Thirst,  excessive,  91 

Thriftiness,  89 

Thymus-anomalies,  133 

Thyroid  anomalies,  133 

Ties,  6 

Timidity,  5 

Tolstoi,  195 

Tooth-motive,  57 

Tremor,  102,  169 

Trotz  und  Gehorsam,  8,  26,  210 

Truancy,  5 

Tyranny,  48,  167,  171,  194 

Ueber  neurotieche  Disposition,  130 
Uncertainty,  50,  94,  185,  193 
Unchastity,  119 


Unfaithfulness,  119 
Ungainliuess,  4 
Unrulincss,  143 
Unsociability,  5 

Vaginismns,  86,  88 
Vagotonia,  Hess-Eppinger,  2 
Vaihinger,  15,  18,   19,  38,  49,  81, 

150 

Valgus,  genu,  5 
Varus,  genu,  5 
Vegetarianism,  157 
Vertigo,  60 
—  cases,  79,  194 
Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  85 
Virchow,  iv.,  5 
Vomiting,  59,  60,  88 
Von  Neusser,  106 
Voyeur,  172 

Wagner,  Eichard,  98,  198 

Wagner  v.   Jaureg,   155 

Wanderlust,  101 

Weakness,  182,  185 

Weber,  Parkes,  102 

Weeping  fits,  182 

Weininger,  52,  119 

Werles,  Gregor,   61 

Wernicke,  185 

Wild  duck,  61 

Wild  oats,  53 

Wildness,  134,  143 

Will  to  be  above,  Nietzsche,  166 

Will  to  be  up,  Nietzsche,  161,  162, 

169 
Will  to   power,  Nietzsche,    12,  16, 

21,  35,  46,  62,  63,  111,  166 
Will  to  seem,  15,  141 
Willfulness,  88 
Winking,  25 
Woman,  186,  196 

Yauregg,  Wagner,  5 
Younger  brother,  91 

Ziehen,  88 


Printed  in    Great  Britain   by 
St.    Stephen's   Printing   Works,   Bristol. 


DATE  DUE 


o£e  v 

1979 

JAN  2 

1974 

MOJ      1  1 

fVrcJt  LI! 

RARf 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

3   1970  00604  5386 


A    000507918     1 


